Massachusetts and Connecticut have been recognized as State Pacesetters for their leadership in addressing the challenges that keep many low-income students from learning to read proficiently.

Campaign Managing Director Ralph Smith was in Boston this week to deliver the Pacesetter certificate to state officials, legislative leaders and key advocates and visit with the five Massachusetts cities involved in the Grade-Level Reading Communities Network: Boston, Holyoke, Pittsfield, Springfield and Worcester.  The Eye on Early Education blog captured his visit in this blog post. Smith did a tour of Connecticut last week, delivering the Pacesetter honors on Oct. 10 at the annual Stone Soup Conference hosted by the William C. Graustein Memorial Fund.

The Campaign bestows Pacesetter Honors on states that are “leading by example” to solve one or more of the challenges that can undermine early literacy: chronic absenteeism, summer learning loss and a lack of school readiness.

Read more about Connecticut on this handout.

Read more about Massachusetts on this handout.