Despite a push from the state’s largest teachers union to defang the bill, the Massachusetts House onWednesday passed a major reading instruction measure aimed at discarding outdated methods and reversing the state’s decade-long slide in teaching children to read.
The bill’s passage marked a rare setback for the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which has been riding a near decade-long string of electoral and legislative victories.
The bill, which the House passed 155-0, would require districts to use state-approved reading curriculums that include “five research-based areas,” which include not just phonics but also vocabulary and comprehension, among other focuses.
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The House Democrats’ proposal emerged this week after years of advocacy on and off Beacon Hill, and after similar bills passed around the country. States have looked to the rare examples of Louisiana and Mississippi, which have bucked the nationwide decline in achievement over the past decade.
A union-backed amendment to the bill that would have eliminated the role of the state’s education department in determining acceptable curriculums was withdrawn during Wednesday’s session before it could even be debated. The amendment — filed by state Representative Samantha Montaño, a Boston Democrat — would have allowed districts to choose their own curriculums without state approval as long as they report to the state that their choices are high-quality.
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Legislation and Reading: The Wisconsin Experience 2004-