Boston launches new literacy task force

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced last week the formation of a new task force to address literacy rates.

The 15-member group is tasked with studying literacy rates across the city, developing an action plan that would help connect illiterate adults and children with city resources, and providing program and policy recommendations designed to increase literacy.

“City government should help improve the lives of all residents regardless of where they come from, what language they speak, or their literacy level,” Wu said in a statement.

The task force began meeting last Friday. Its members include officials from city government, leaders from local organizations specializing in literacy, the president of Boston Public Library, and more.

Massachusetts students are generally better readers than students in most of the rest of the country, but average reading scores have not changed significantly over the past 25 years, according to data from The National Assessment of Educational Progress.

On NAEP’s 0-500 reading scale, fourth-grade students in Massachusetts averaged a score of 227 in 2022. The average nationwide score was 216.

Reading scores in the state dipped a bit since 2019, when the average score for Massachusetts fourth-graders was 231. The average score in 1998 was 223. Similar trends are also reflected in assessments of eighth-grade students.

The new task force will seek to help those who cannot read or write in any language as well as adults and children that can read and write, but not at a high level.

Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia, whose office filed the ordinance to establish the task force, said that the last time Boston conducted a literacy study was in 2003. Mejia is also a member of the task force.

“This work is very personal to me. My mother only made it to the third grade and struggles to read and write in Spanish as well as English,” Mejia said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there are many others like my mom. Roughly 1 in 5 adults across the United States struggle with being able to read or write English. At least some level of reading or writing is required to communicate and access an overwhelming majority of services and information offered by the City of Boston, creating barriers for many.”

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