Early reading skills lay the foundation for all later learning, which makes closing the achievement gap in early reading between students of color and their white peers and between students from low-income backgrounds and those from wealthier families particularly important. Thanks to the work of Massachusetts advocacy groups like Strategies for Children's Early Education for All campaign, MA policymakers are taking steps to close the state's achievement gap in third grade reading. 

A bill recently passed by the state legislature will create a nine-member "Early Literacy Expert Panel," co-chaired by the Secretary of Education and an outside expert on child literacy, that will help to streamline different reading initiatives across the state, identify gaps in services and support, and provide better access to shared information on everything from assessment data to curriculum models. 

Early Education for All has pulled together a great fact sheet about the legislation, which you can read here. 

Also worth reading is this report from Strategies for Children, "Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success," which dives into MA's reading scores to illustrate that despite national praise for its scores, the state still has work to do to bring all students up to grade level reading and set them on a secure path towards later learning. You can download the report here. 

You can read the new bill here.