(BOSTON 2/3/2026) — The Massachusetts Senate last week passed legislation that supports young learners by ensuring reading instruction is rooted in proven, evidence-based practices.

The bill creates new statewide standards for literacy education and assessment, offers professional development resources for educators, and offers flexible options and supplemental funding for public schools that work to implement evidence-based curricula.

The bill, S.2924, An Act relative to teacher preparation and student literacy, ensures that every Massachusetts student from kindergarten to 3rd grade learns to read using phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and phonemic awareness – practices that data shows as the best building blocks for lifetime learning.

During Senate debate, Second Worcester District Senator Michael Moore introduced an amendment to expand Massachusetts’ existing public school vision screening program to include a database where results can be centralized and necessary follow-up appointments or treatment can be tracked to ensure no students fall through the cracks. This language reflects the contents of S.166 – An Act to close the achievement gap by addressing disparities in children’s vision, which Senator Moore has reintroduced over several sessions. Though proper eyesight is necessary to support children’s literacy, the amendment was withdrawn due to insufficient support.

“In recent years, a troubling trend as emerged; children in schools across the nation have been falling behind on their reading abilities,” said Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury). “The good news is that this trend is reversable – we just need to give teachers the tools they need to get students back up to speed. I’m proud that the Senate is acting on this important issue, and although my amendment to expand children’s vision screenings in schools did not make it across the finish line, I’m still hopeful that we can continue our efforts to support kids in the most formative years of their education. After all, if a student is struggling to see the words on the page of a book, no amount of teaching will help until the child gets the glasses they need.”

To support school districts and educators with implementation, the legislation would create a new Early Literacy Fund seeded with $25 million in ‘Fair Share’ funding to help districts with costs and support educators’ professional development. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) would also make additional professional development resources available.

Schools would have three DESE-approved options to implement the new curriculum requirement: utilize a complete curriculum that is made available for free by DESE; use a curriculum from a list that meets evidence-based criteria; or receive a waiver authorizing the use of another curriculum that meets the same standards but had not been previously reviewed and approved by DESE.

The legislation makes sure parents and schools engage in constructive communication about student progress. It requires twice-yearly assessments to gauge every young learner’s reading progress and to screen for dyslexia, and requires schools to contact a parent or guardian within 30 days if a student has fallen significantly behind and propose a response if that is the case.

Full details of the legislation are available in a fact sheet in the Senate’s press room.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously on a 38-0 roll call vote, and the legislation was sent to the House of Representatives to reconcile the few differences between Senate and House bills.

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