Mass Reads Coalition: Massachusetts has a literacy problem. We ignore it at our peril.
THE LATEST RESULTS of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the “nation’s report card,” on our students’ achievement in reading and math were sobering, but not surprising. We are being heralded by Massachusetts education policymakers for being #1 in the nation in terms of academic achievement. But Massachusetts also holds the cringeworthy distinction of having the second largest achievement gap between rich and poor students, a gap that has widened since 2019. In spite of 30 years of reform efforts and tens of billions of dollars in increased spending, we are still only “#1 for some.”
Six out of every ten children in Massachusetts cannot read or do math at grade level. Eight out of ten low-income, Black and Latino children are not performing at grade level, leaving our state as a national leader in producing reading gaps for our Black and Hispanic students. Only half of white children are proficient. Needless to say, we should not be proud of our performance.
Read more via the CommonWealth Beacon >> https://commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/massachusetts-has-a-literacy-problem-we-ignore-it-at-our-peril/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Without%20FEMA%20resilience%20money%2C%20Mass%20%20communities%20scramble%20to%20save%20flood%20prevention%20projects&utm_campaign=DL%2005-02-25