Burlington Ahead of the Curve as New State Literacy Law Takes Effect

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey just signed a new law that will require school districts in Massachusetts to adopt evidence-based reading curricula in grades K-3 or obtain a waiver opting them out. This is big news for education advocates across the state as evidence mounts against whole-language reading instruction. But Burlington's work over the last several years means the requirements of the new law are already being met by the district's current work.

What the law does

H.5511, formally titled An Act Relative to Teacher Preparation and Student Literacy, does several things. At its core, it prohibits districts from using three-cueing — the practice of teaching children to guess an unfamiliar word from context, pictures, or sentence meaning rather than decoding it — as a primary or substitute reading strategy for K–3 students. The approach has been the subject of significant national scrutiny, including the widely shared podcast Sold a Story, which investigated how whole-language methods spread through American schools despite mounting scientific evidence that phonics-based instruction is more effective.

Burlington's State Representative Ken Gordon (D-21st Middlesex) chairs the House Committee on Education and was a key architect of the bill. He has followed the research closely and even bought his own copy of one of the embattled curricula, which he shared in front of the legislature to demonstrate the non-evidence-based techniques the bill aims to address.

Gordon said the legislative push came with resistance — not necessarily from individual classroom teachers, but from the state teachers' union. He said the Massachusetts Teachers Association argued the bill would prevent teachers from showing students pictures or using sight words — claims he said were not accurate once the final language was refined. "Of course you can show the kids a picture," Gordon said. "There's no children's book I've ever seen that doesn't have illustrations." The bill passed the House 155–0.

The law also establishes the Early Literacy Fund, a new special revenue account intended to support the state in creating and training teachers on a free, complete K-3 literacy curriculum for districts making the transition. Once funded through a separate budget appropriation, the fund could support curriculum development, materials purchases, and professional development for districts. But the $25 million figure the Senate had pushed to include directly in the bill didn't survive conference — Gordon explained that the House insisted on separating the policy from the appropriation to keep the funding from getting diluted in a competitive budget process.

Districts that want to use a curriculum not on the state's approved list can apply for a waiver but must demonstrate that their approach is grounded in scientific research and submit detailed outcome data, including demographic breakdowns.

The law also includes requirements for reading risk screening and a mandate that educator preparation programs align with evidence-based literacy instruction.

What the new law means for Burlington

Burlington began moving toward evidence-based literacy before it was a legal requirement. Gordon credited the district's leadership with making that call. "They realized that there was a better way to do it," he said, noting that a new superintendent or principal is often what prompts a district to change course. In Burlington's case, that leadership came from long-time Superintendent Eric Conti and has been carried forward under the direction of Assistant Superintendent Lisa Chen.

After a multi-year literacy review, Burlington just completed Year 1 of implementing Amplify CKLA — a curriculum the new law would categorize as high-quality instructional materials — in its elementary schools and recently adopted the CommonLit 360 English Language Arts curriculum for grades 6–8. In a statement to Burlington Buzz, Chen wrote that the district has trained 40 educators in LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling), and continues using DIBELS 8 as a universal literacy screener for all students, already aligned with what the law now requires statewide.

The district has additionally provided specialized training for reading specialists, special education team chairs, and middle school literacy teachers, in partnership with Dr. Gail Lovette of the University of Virginia.

"Our goal is to continue, build, and strengthen teacher capacity in evidence-based structured literacy instruction," Chen said. "I am in full support of this legislation and am incredibly grateful for Representative Ken Gordon's support of this bill."

Chen said the district was also selected to participate in the Massachusetts Dyslexia Institute, leading a district-wide team through a year of professional learning focused on dyslexia-informed practices — directly relevant to the law's expanded dyslexia screening requirements, which now mandate that districts screen all K–3 students for reading risk at least twice per year and notify parents within 30 days and develop a response plan if a child is found to be significantly below grade-level benchmarks.

Chen specifically recognized K–8 Literacy Coordinator Dr. Bonnie Nichols, who she said has worked closely with principals and teacher leaders to support the early literacy curriculum adoption. She said Nichols also secured the PRISM II Grant that funded additional professional development to support teachers with the transition. The district has also applied for the PRISM III Grant to support its CommonLit 360 adoption at the middle school level.

The work Burlington has done over the last several years — training teachers, updating materials, building educator capacity — is what turns a curriculum adoption into actual reading gains for kids in Burlington classrooms.

What comes next statewide

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education now has six months to publish its list of approved high-quality K–3 curricula and notify districts that a free alternative will be available before the 2027 deadline. Districts must be in compliance — or have an approved waiver — before the 2027–2028 school year begins. Annual reporting on curriculum alignment begins that same year, with a public statewide report due by December 31, 2027.

Gordon acknowledged that for some districts, particularly smaller and more rural ones still using photocopied paper-based materials, the transition will require real investment and support. The law's funding mechanisms, he said, are meant to make sure cost isn't the barrier that keeps kids from learning to read.