In February 2006, the Massachusetts Department of Education (MDE) received a grant from the National Governors Association's (NGA) Center for Best Practices to convene an adolescent literacy task force. This group was charged with making recommendations to the state around a five-year strategic plan to improve literacy achievement in grades 4-12. In December 2006, MDE released the comprehensive PreK-12 literacy plan for Massachusetts, which includes the task force's recommendations and serves as a cohesive state literacy policy aimed at helping all students achieve proficiency in reading, writing, and oral language.
This webpage hosts the task force’s original report and recommendations, the Massachusetts PreK-12 Literacy Plan, and other documents and presentations with information on the plan.
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Background and Context
Across the country states are struggling to establish sound literacy learning standards for adolescents and appropriate teacher preparation standards in literacy for teachers who will work with adolescents. At the secondary level, literacy should not only be addressed in the language arts curriculum, but it should play a central role in every subject area.
