Massachusetts passed a new early literacy law. What happens next?

A “green light”
The “first game of the season”
“A floor, not a ceiling”
“Just the beginning”

Speakers at the Rennie Center’s 10/29 briefing on the state’s new Student Literacy Act used many phrases to convey the same idea: when it comes to helping all Massachusetts students become successful readers, passing the law was just step one. 

This message came through loud and clear from the start. Rennie Center Executive Director Dr. Chad d’Entremont kicked off the briefing by expressing appreciation for the legislature’s commitment to advancing student literacy. Seeing this commitment lead to real change will take a dedicated effort from educators in classrooms across the Commonwealth—and from the state and local leaders who support them. Dr. d’Entremont highlighted the need for strong guidance and sustained support for implementation as schools and districts work to put the legislation into action.

The state’s new law responds to a clear need for evidence-based classroom practices, as Rep. Simon Cataldo (one of the bill’s co-sponsors) described in his remarks. A data presentation from the Rennie Center’s Director of Policy, Alexis Lian, also highlighted the need for more effective literacy instruction. Only 40% of students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded expectations on the 2026 ELA MCAS exam, down 12% since 2019. Looking just at Grade 3, the proficiency rate was 43%, but this statewide rate masks persistent disparities. Proficiency rates were lower among Black (28%), low-income (25%), and Hispanic or Latino (23%) students, while just 15% of students with disabilities and 9% of English learners met or exceeded expectations on the exam. 

The legislature responded to these (and many other) data sources pointing to widespread need for improved literacy practices, enacting a law in June 2026 that codifies evidence-based approaches to reading instruction. With the passage of this law, Massachusetts joins 42 other states that have passed legislation supporting students’ access to high-quality reading instruction. 

The law addresses three key priorities: 1) making sure all students are taught by prepared and supported educators; 2) ensuring all schools are using high-quality curriculum materials; and 3) connecting students who face reading challenges with timely, targeted supports. During the briefing, Dr. Erin Hashimoto-Martell, Senior Associate Commissioner from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), described each of these three priorities in detail. She also laid out the timeline for rolling out different elements of the law, including a list of approved, high-quality early literacy curricula and updated guidance on how to screen multilingual learners and students with disabilities for reading challenges. 

Within DESE’s timeline, one key benchmark is for all districts to be using approved, high-quality early literacy curricula by the start of the 2027-28 school year. Based on self-reported data from districts, DESE currently estimates that approximately 60% of districts are using materials that would be considered high quality. This means that a substantial number of districts may still need to change their curriculum in order to align with the expectations that state leaders have set out.

Ron Noble, who recently served as the Chief of Teacher Prep for the National Council on Teacher Quality and just joined DESE as a senior advisor, spoke at the briefing to acknowledge the “really comprehensive state policy” that Massachusetts has put in place on early literacy. He specifically called out the parts of the law dealing with educator preparation, noting that just 25 states have passed legislation to align teacher training programs with evidence-based literacy practices. At the same time, he issued a caution to legislators not to get distracted from the core of the issue that this law was intended to address, noting that DESE will need support from state leaders to “make the tough calls and hold the line when it comes to programs that resist alignment with the law.” 

What comes next?

One next step to implement the law is for DESE to keep offering programming designed to promote effective practices. This includes Literacy Launch Institutes (LLIs), which have already trained more than 1,400 educators on high-quality early literacy instruction and are gearing up to train another 2,000+ by the start of the next school year. 

During the briefing, the Rennie Center invited Alex Stout of HILL for Literacy—which leads the LLI initiative for DESE in partnership with Rennie and RMC—to offer a sample of the content that educators receive when they participate in a Literacy Launch Institute. She led briefing attendees in a rousing call-and-response as she instructed the group on the concept of orthographic mapping—that is, “the process by which readers store words for immediate, effortless retrieval in long-term memory.” She modeled a series of rigorous and engaging activities that provide a strong grounding in the science that underlies effective literacy, while also offering easily applicable strategies to build students’ skills. 

The briefing also included a practitioner panel with three literacy leaders (and past LLI participants), moderated by Dr. d’Entremont. These practitioners highlighted the value of the actionable content they received through LLI, especially for novice teachers. Dr. De’Shawn Washington, the 2024 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year who currently serves as a professor at Bay Path University, noted that much of what goes on during an LLI  “immediately becomes a part of the instructional tool bag,” offering educators timely support with implementing evidence-based literacy practices.

Yet while continuing existing programming like LLI is critical to the success of the new law, speakers also highlighted a range of future directions. For instance, Rep. Cataldo pointed to the need to expand evidence-based practices in other areas, from numeracy to the use of AI in learning. Dr. Washington called for greater attention to the needs of older learners, especially those in middle and high school, whose literacy journey is not supported by the law’s focus on early literacy. And Laura Garcia, the ELA Curriculum, Data & Assessment Manager for New Bedford Public Schools, described the importance of ongoing state financial support for implementation, noting that “it’s going to take time for educators to get good at this work.”

In a similar vein, several speakers highlighted the importance of investing in one particular form of ongoing support: literacy coaches embedded within schools who can oversee the process of implementing effective practices. Jennifer Peterson, PreK-12 ELA Curriculum Supervisor for Haverhill Public Schools, classified coaching as “the most important thing,” describing the need for coaches who can model and support shifts in daily practice. Ron Noble likewise emphasized the need for school-based instructional coaching, noting the investments that Alabama and Mississippi (two early adopters of evidence-based early literacy legislation) have made in this field; Alabama, for instance, allocated $94 million to staff coaches as they rolled out their new law. As Ron put it, the work of helping teachers provide high-quality literacy instruction “cannot be done by committee, and it cannot be done by adding to an already busy administrator’s plate.” 

Ultimately, all speakers agreed that the new Student Literacy Act is critical to supporting equitable, effective literacy instruction for all learners statewide—an “equalizer” of student experience, as Sen. Sal DiDomenico (a co-sponsor of the bill) stated during the briefing. When all teachers are working from high-quality materials and trained in their effective use, students will have a better, more consistent learning experience, regardless of which classroom, school, or district they attend. Over time, these changes will hopefully lead to better results for students statewide. As Dr. Washington put it to close the briefing, “Every student deserves to experience the joy of reading.”

If you are an educator, school leader, or district leader interested in participating in an upcoming Literacy Launch Institute, contact Rennie Center Associate Rafa Arms at rarms@renniecenter.org to learn more about how to get involved.

If you want to weigh in on DESE’s implementation of the Student Literacy Act, you can submit a public comment on the Department’s proposed regulations before the December 28th deadline.