Last year, the Governor and legislature allocated $25M in state funding for early literacy high-dosage tutoring for 10,000 struggling young readers across the Commonwealth. That funding has been used to provide tutoring in 91 districts and 328 schools this school year according to state reports.

The state investment was largely based on a rigorous evaluation conducted by the Center for Research and Reform at Johns Hopkins University of a One8 Foundation funded high-dosage tutoring model during the 2023-24 school year that showed tutored students across all sub-groups gained 5+ months of additional learning as compared to national norms.

A new evaluation from JHU of the same program during the 2024–25 school year found consistent results. Participating students gained an additional 5+ months of learning beyond typical national growth, with consistent benefits across student subgroups.

These results underscore the reliability and effectiveness of the tutoring model One8 funded which provides first grade students with 15 minutes of tutoring every day, during the school day with the same highly trained tutor. Evidence shows first grade is a critical window for foundational literacy development and policies should support intensive tutoring before students fall significantly behind.

Critically, the second-year analysis found that 85 percent of students who exited first grade at grade-level proficiency after participating in the program stayed at or above grade level by the end of second grade.

This evidence matters: sustaining early literacy gains can prevent the costly, time-consuming remediation that schools are forced to undertake when students fall behind—freeing resources and setting more students on a durable path to long-term academic success.

The intervention is effective and the state should continue funding it. The Governor included $25M in her FY27 Fair Share Supplemental budget to sustain the initiative. MBAE is hopeful the legislature will support this investment and ensure that funding is used on tutoring models that the evidence shows us work.

Background:

• The One8 Foundation funded high-impact, early-literacy high-dosage tutoring administered by Ignite Reading in 13 Massachusetts districts (and nearly 50 schools) during the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 school years. The two-year initiative served nearly 5,000 first-graders.
• Students received 15 minutes daily of 1:1 virtual tutoring, five days per week, with the same highly trained tutor, using an evidence-based curriculum grounded in the science of reading.
• To be eligible for One8 Foundation grant funding, districts had to be using a green-rated curriculum for K–2 ELA instruction and had to have provided curriculum-specific professional learning to all K–2 teachers. Tutoring funds were provided for first grade seats, drawing on evidence that this is where literacy tutoring is most effective.
• One8 Foundation staff monitored the implementation, meeting weekly to coordinate with the team from Ignite Reading to collaboratively craft policy, review school-level data, and surge support when interventions were necessary. The One8 Foundation also organized cohort convenings – in-person and virtual – to share program data, updates, and best practices.