Teachers know how to fix the reading crisis. The House listened, and now it’s the Senate’s turn
Teachers want evidence-based instruction. The Right to Read Act, with some adjustments, can give us a path forward.
by Lisa Lazare
When a veteran AP biology teacher from Boston Public Schools works with high school juniors and seniors, he sees bright students who understand complex concepts but struggle to read their textbooks.
“Her struggles weren’t with the science content,” he explains about one student. “She just couldn’t break down big scientific words or pull meaning from the reading.”
Another BPS educator, who serves as a special education coordinator, had three fourth-graders who couldn’t read at all. He thinks about what could have been different: “If they had received the right help early on, they would have been able to engage with their learning instead of falling behind.”
A multilingual educator from Fitchburg with nearly 30 years of experience has seen firsthand what happens when students don’t receive this instruction. “Many students get passed from grade to grade and fall further behind, until dropping out becomes a serious possibility,” said the instructor.
Stories like these are all too familiar to teachers across Massachusetts, and they explain why last week’s unanimous passage of the Right to Read Act by the Massachusetts House of Representatives is such a historic moment. For the first time, our state is on the verge of ensuring that every K-3 classroom uses high-quality, evidence-based reading materials and that teachers have the training and support they’ve been asking for.
Sadly, victory did not come easily. For years, legislative proposals to strengthen reading instruction stalled amid competing perspectives on what’s best for students. But in the end, lawmakers in the House chose to side with teachers who are unequivocally calling for change — those who know, from the front of the classroom, that evidence-based literacy instruction works.
Across the Commonwealth, nearly 4 in 10 third-graders can’t read proficiently, with even deeper inequities for low-income students and students of color. In places like Lowell, where only 25 percent of third-graders could read at grade level in 2023, this bill would provide real tools, support, and standards to help teachers shift away from ineffective curricula that the state has already identified as “low quality.”
Research tells us that 95 percent of students can learn to read by the third grade when given the right instruction. The Right to Read Act brings us within reach.
As a former teacher, I’m often wary of top-down policies. But teachers across our state have consistently told me they want materials and strategies backed by research that will help their students succeed. In a recent snap poll by my organization, Educators for Excellence, 83 percent of teachers we surveyed support the use of high-quality, evidence-based instructional materials.
“Reading was what lifted me out of poverty,” says an educator from Randolph who has taught for 23 years. “I want the same for every child.”
This is not about politics or preferences–it’s about ensuring our kids are not left further behind. Arguments that suggest we must choose between structure and flexibility miss the point entirely. What teachers want is both: the freedom to meet their students’ needs and the assurance that the materials, and supports necessary for teaching them, work.
The bill passed by the House last week strikes that balance beautifully. It allows districts to petition to use curricula not included on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s evidence-based list, provided they can clearly demonstrate alignment in practice and results with approved programs.
This ensures accountability while grounding solutions in what is actually improving literacy outcomes. The approach keeps teacher expertise at the center while setting a high bar for quality–exactly what educators have been asking for.
Now, the focus turns to the Massachusetts Senate. Senators should follow the House’s lead and resist efforts to weaken or delay this legislation. This is a rare moment in the Commonwealth, when the Speaker, Senate president, and governor have all voiced a similar commitment to addressing literacy outcomes for Massachusetts students. The Senate now has an opportunity to finish what the House started and get the bill to the governor’s desk.
Teachers are ready. The research is clear. The students are waiting. The Senate must act swiftly in advancing a strong Right to Read Act, ensuring that every child across Massachusetts has the chance–and ability–to read.
As one educator put it best: “We have a moral obligation to make sure every child gets instruction based on what we know works.”
Lisa Lazare is executive director of Educators for Excellence Massachusetts.
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