early literacy

With school back in session for more than 900,000 students in Massachusetts, WAMC spoke with state Education Secretary Dr. Patrick Tutwiler about the new year, a slate of grants and programs aimed at early literacy and the state of statewide testing.

The latest nation's report card shows that American children’s reading skills reached new lows, while there is a debate about the best way to teach reading in school. Maya Payne Smart is a writer, parent educator, and literacy advocate argues that America’s reading crisis begins well before children enter kindergarten. She says it starts at birth, which is why she wrote a step-by-step guide for parents to do what it takes to set their children up to thrive as readers from day one to early elementary school. The name of the book is “Reading for Our Lives: The Urgency of Early Literacy and the Action Plan to Help Your Child.”

A program that puts free books in the hands of young students and their teachers recently arrived in Holyoke - complete with a celebration featuring the governor.

Monday’s ceremony marked the installation of the Born Learning Trail, a series of signs along a pathway through a playground at Springside Park in…