MassPotential: Massachusetts’ sinking reading scores should be a five-alarm fire on Beacon Hill
If current trajectories hold, the Mass Reads Coalition predicts that Massachusetts’ fourth-grade reading scores could converge with Mississippi’s by 2028.
Yes, you read that correctly. And it isn’t just because Mississippi has dramatically improved since it ranked lowest in the nation in 2013. It’s also because Massachusetts’ reading scores are dropping.
In a state that prides itself for being the nation’s leader in education, this should be a five-alarm fire. But last year, the Massachusetts Teacher Association and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents opposed a bill mandating science-backed reading curriculum that failed to pass. Now some of the same voices are fighting a new bill on literacy.
Read more via the Boston Globe >> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/24/opinion/massachusetts-literacy-requirements-legislation/