Why Mass Literacy? The most painful thing to hear from a student
is I can't read, or I'm never going to read, or I'm a bad reader. And that is what you'll see
when students don't have the right tools to figure out how to break down the code of our language.
The minute they realize that they can read based on evidence-based instruction, they are all in.
Right now, we know that about half of our students in third grade are not achieving
proficiency in literacy. That is injustice and that is inequity.
Fundamentally what we re asking folks to do is make decisions about what they do
in instruction based on the best available evidence that we have for what should increase
the likelihood that your students will learn the skills that they need to succeed in school.
If we are going to eliminate racial injustice and inequities in our country,
we need to use education as one lever to do that.
And within education, we need to make sure that we re teaching students
how to read using evidence-based practices that will give them access to literacy.
Expecting a child to just learn to read words by being exposed to print hasn't panned out in the
research. What we know is that the majority of children need direct explicit instruction
in how letters and sounds are connected and how they build on those connections over time.
There should be no shame around admitting that we need to learn more. And I know personally,
I carried shame for a long time when, um, I was sitting in a first grade classroom
and had more children that I did just didn't know what to do with, and it makes you feel
that, or at least it has made me and other colleagues that I've talked to, um,
that there's something wrong with us and we have to reflect and look deeply on our practice.
The proof is really when I see it applied, um, see the results in the classroom
when a student maybe is called on to answer a comprehension question or to read aloud, or,
you know, the student receives a spelling quiz back and their score as much better than I've
ever had before. So that's very rewarding. When I have a struggling reader, which
is what the population I'm working with right now, when they break through a struggle, it's the best
thing that, um, I ever experience. Because not only are you proud of them, but you see them
actually grow, you see the confidence in them, they sit up straighter,
you see the biggest and brightest smile on their faces. And when they say to you, I can do it.
I didn't need your help. I figured it out. It's the most rewarding experience ever.
we made sure to develop the guidance and resources in partnership with educators across the state.
And so first we started with a group that we call the Literacy Champions. These were 50
educators from across the state of Massachusetts who worked with us to build the resources.
Second, we worked with a group of people we called our research advisors. So this combination
of educators and researchers from across the state, indeed from across the nation and world
in some cases, contributed to producing the Mass Literacy initiative, which is this treasure trove
of information, resources, research that we hope educators across the state will refer to
and use to develop and build their practice. We cannot afford to lose children who
have the potential to contribute to our greatness. And so we owe it to them. We owe it to them to
ensure that we are doing the very best that we can to set them up for the success that we need. And I
am unwilling to allow any child to not participate in that journey simply because we didn't want to.