On September 26, 2012, the Governor signed An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency into law. The legislation, filed in January 2011 by former Representative Martha Walz (D-Boston) and former State Senator Katherine Clark (D-Melrose), addresses an important educational benchmark, third grade reading proficiency, which strongly correlates with children’s future success in school and beyond. The legislation established an Early Literacy Expert Panel, comprised of nine members, that is charged with providing recommendations to state education agencies on the alignment, coordination, implementation and improvement of all existing efforts that bear on children’s literacy outcomes, guided by the goal of improving third grade reading outcomes in the Commonwealth.
