Now that we’ve adopted Right to Read legislation for our schools, we must revamp teacher preparation to match it
Sponsored by The Boston Foundation The Best of CommonWealth Beacon OPINION (Illustration via Pixabay) Now that we’ve adopted Right to Read legislation for our schools, we must revamp teacher preparation to match it August 23, 2026 By Donna Thayer On September 16, 2025, when the "Right to Read” Act was being debated at the State House, I testified before the Joint Education Committee in support of this crucial legislation. This was nerve-racking but I had to do it because I strongly believe that all students should get appropriate reading instruction. It felt good to see legislators listen to me, a teacher of 23 years. ADVERTISEMENT During my two-plus decades in the first- and then second-grade classroom, I have been responsible for teaching hundreds of students how to read. I realized long ago that the content I had learned way back when in my teaching program, and even in my masters of literacy and language program, was not enough to help my most strug...