In 2022, only 54% of our 4th graders in Boston, and 63% of 4th graders nationally, achieved “basic” reading proficiency according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). While education experts have established best practices for teaching literacy, inequity surrounding the resources and opportunities of students is leading to drastic gaps in achievement in reading. Literacy is the backbone of many opportunities and decisions individuals make in their lives; when placed at a disadvantage from a young age, students begin their academic journey behind some of their peers, with little to no fault of their own.
Organized by the Museum of Science, Boston, the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University and The GovLab, and with the support of Boston Public Schools’ Chief of Teaching and Learning, the Unlocking Literacy project aims to engage diverse communities in shaping the future of literacy and to create equitable environments where students can thrive.
Over the course of the year, we will convene a series of national and local conversations and events with students, educators, caregivers, researchers and innovators, first, to understand why improving literacy has proved to be so intractable. We will leverage artificial intelligence to ensure more equitable and inclusive participation in these conversations. AI will enable participation in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, and Mandarin (in addition to English) and enable those with low literacy to participate and make their voices heard.Second, we will work with the public—caregivers, students, educators, entrepreneurs and activists—to identify existing and develop new solutions to the problems identified by communities.
We want to know what’s already working inside and outside of schools and what we can do differently with the benefit of new approaches. We will address the innovative role AI could play in helping to improve equitable outcomes.Finally, we will work with public sector, philanthropic, and community partners to design and implement deep demonstration projects to accelerate meaningful outcomes and measure the impact.
The project is supported by Northeastern University’s AI4Impact students, the Learning Agency, and the Citizens Foundation.
Visit unlockingliteracy.ai for more information and to sign up for updates.
