Massachusetts reading proficiency scores are officially the best in the country, but with 60 percent of 4th graders still not meeting basic proficiency benchmarks, district leaders and state politicians both agree on one thing: There’s still plenty of work to be done.
From Mass Literacy mandates that have rolled out over the past few years to Governor Maura Healey’s Massachusetts’ Literacy Launch initiative, reading instruction in the Bay State has been in a state of change for a while now, and more instructional shifts are the horizon.
How can your district keep up? And what can you learn from other Massachusetts districts that are seeing reading growth?
We took a deep dive into the history of literacy instruction in Massachusetts and what’s on the horizon to help district and school leaders stay on track.
Massachusetts Reading Proficiency Scores
At first glance, Massachusetts’ reading proficiency scores tell a rosy tale.
The state ranked number one on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — better known as the Nation’s Report Card — in 2024 with the highest numeric score of any state in both 4th and 8th grade reading.
- 4th grade reading: On a scale of 0 to 500, Massachusetts 4th graders had an average score of 225.
- 8th grade reading: On a scale of 0 to 500, Massachusetts 8th graders had an average score of 268.
Peek beyond first in the nation status, however, and there’s a lot more to the story.
While 40% of Massachusetts 4th graders overall scored proficient or above on the 2024 NAEP scores, demographic breakdowns underscore the sizable opportunity gaps with around 20 percent of Black and Latino students and those from low-income households reading at or above proficiency levels.
Reading proficiency rates for Black and Latino students in MA resemble those of students in the lowest-performing states.
Literacy data analysis by the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership
Massachusetts, along with Arizona, California, Florida, Oregon, and Washington saw a decrease in 4th grade reading scores on the most recent national test. The Commonwealth’s 2024 test results represent the lowest 4th graders have scored in the past decade.
According to analysis by the Education Recovery Scorecard, a project devised by Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard and Stanford’s Educational Opportunity Project, Massachusetts students are now almost half a grade level below 2019 levels on average in reading (.48 grade level equivalents).
Districts across the country are in a similar boat — according to Scorecard, 89 percent of students in districts nationwide are reading below 2019 levels.
What Is Massachusetts’ Literacy Launch?
Massachusetts’ Literacy Launch is the latest effort to help school districts move reading scores in the right direction, but what, exactly, is it?
Formally known as Literacy Launch: Reading Success from Age 3 through Grade 3, the five-year plan to improve early literacy in the commonwealth was introduced by Governor Maura Healey during her State of the Commonwealth address in January 2024. It’s expected to roll out in stages through 2029.
Healey says the program will “expand evidence-based and culturally and linguistically sustaining practices for English language arts and literacy in grades pre-K through 12.” She’s outlined three methods for delivering on that promise:
- Providing grants to districts to fund literacy programs updates. Money will be available for districts who qualify for the grants to hire literacy support staff, provide staff with literacy instruction training, purchase new high quality instruction materials, and implement early literacy assessments, along with a host of other investments meant to move districts toward evidence-based instruction.
- Reviewing teacher education programs. Literacy Launch funding will accelerate a review of Massachusetts-based educator preparation programs (EPPs) under way by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). With the new funding, DESE is expected to accelerate its assessment of EPPs’ programmatic alignment to the state’s Early Literacy Program Approval Criteria. This will help college students determine whether their educator preparation program provides the training they need to deliver evidence-based literacy instruction when they step into a classroom.
- Completing a statewide assessment of preschool literacy needs. A partnership between DESE and the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) is under way to develop a Massachusetts Preschool to Kindergarten Transition Toolkit for districts, and to identify high quality instructional materials (HQIM) and literacy assessments for preschools.
So far, $20 million has been set aside in the 2025 state budget for the first year of the program.
How Can My District Get Literacy Launch Funding?
Literacy Launch grants are expected to be available on an annual basis through FY29, but just one of those grants has been announced so far.
Partnership for Reading Success – Massachusetts/PRISM Grants
The program’s first district grant was the PRISM I, an acronym that’s short for Partnership for Reading Success – Massachusetts. The grant provided selected districts with funds to spend on approved items such as:
- Salaries of reading interventionists, literacy coaches, and/or reading specialists
- High-dosage tutoring focused on 1st grade
- Early literacy assessments
- Evidence-based Tier 1 language and literacy instructional materials
Districts that qualified for PRISM I funding gained access to a portion of a $27 million Massachusetts reading initiative fund over the next five years. Applications for this grant closed in early October 2024.
Applications for the next step — PRISM II — are currently open, closing May 19, 2025.
Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant
Federal funding may be another option for districts that did not qualify for the Prism I grant.
In 2024, Massachusetts was awarded $38.4 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Education’s Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant program, a federal initiative that’s exclusively focused on literacy.
The last time Massachusetts received funds from this federal program, it was used to create the current GLEAM (Growing Literacy Equity Across Massachusetts) grant fund that schools across the Commonwealth have used since 2020 to implement new early literacy programs.
Exactly how funds will be spent this time around has yet to be announced, but there are a few details that have been released:
- The Healey administration has promised to use some of the funds to improve standardized assessments, as well as expanding on Literacy Launch grants to provide more districts with funding to purchase high-quality reading material and improve literacy supports.
- Like the state reading initiative grants, the 2024 CLSD funding will be distributed over the next five years to further expand evidence-based and culturally and linguistically sustaining practices for English language arts and literacy in grades pre-K through 12.
More Massachusetts’ Reading Resources Districts Can Turn To
In addition to the funding options, there are several other resources Massachusetts districts should be aware of as they evaluate how to improve early literacy programs.
Tools for Engaging Families
The Mass Literacy Guide released by DESE in 2020 to provide districts with practical strategies and resources for preK-3 literacy has gotten a major overhaul.
Districts can now access a host of tools to share with parents and guardians so they too can support their children’s early reading growth. The guide also includes resources for educators to help answer caregiver questions about evidence-based literacy practices.
Adolescent Literacy Intervention Selection Tool (A-LIST)
The literacy screening mandates implemented across the state in recent years extend only through the 3rd grade, but what about your older students? Massachusetts districts now have a tool to ensure the supports provided for students in grades 4-12 are evidence-based.
DESE launched the A-List, a list of literacy intervention programs for older students that have been reviewed by the department and found to both:
- Align with recommendations from the IES Practice Guide Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9
- Support enactment of culturally and linguistically sustaining practices (CLSP)
Reading Success in One Massachusetts District
One Massachusetts district that has prioritized early literacy intervention has seen the number of fluent readers skyrocket.
Take a peek as educators from Pittsfield Public Schools district share what has been making all the difference for their 1st graders.
About Ignite Reading
Ignite Reading delivers 1:1 online tutoring to students who need extra support in learning to read. Our expert tutors teach students the foundational skills they need to become confident, fluent readers by the end of 1st grade.
With a team of literacy specialists and highly trained tutors, we provide daily, targeted instruction that quickly closes decoding gaps, so students can successfully make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn.
Content Updated May 1, 2025
