►
Description
Literacy is a cornerstone of education and education is a cornerstone of Boston. A packed crowd of educators gathered at Quincy's Boston Marriott Hotel to promote leadership in reading and literacy. Mayor Walsh was honored with the 2018 Massachusetts Reading Association 2018 Reading Advocate Award.
A
A
A
Opened
the
book
in
and
I
strode
now
nobody
can
find
me.
I
left
my
chair,
my
house,
my
room,
my
town,
my
world
behind
me,
I'm
worth
of
cook
I
slipped
under
I,
swallowed.
Four
magical
side
was
okay:
I
fought
with
a
dragon.
His
dived
in
a
bottomless
ocean
I
opened
the
book
and
made
some
friends
I
shared
our
tears
and
laughter
and
followed
the
road
whooping
bumps
and
bed
to
the
happily
ever
after
I
finished,
my
buckets
of
I
came
a
cool
kid.
No
longer
tightening.
B
B
B
That
was
a
quote
from
a
longtime
librarian
back
in
1912,
John,
cotton,
Dana
and
all
of
you
are
here
today
because
you
exemplify
the
message
in
that
quote
whether
it's
learning
how
to
motivate
that
hard-to-reach
student
or
how
to
find
the
perfect
book
for
that
reluctant
reader
or
how
to
differentiate
for
the
diverse
children
in
front
of
you
or
how
to
use
new
technology
or
try
a
new
approach.
It's
about
continuous
learning.
B
Yesterday,
Kathy
Collins
in
her
opening
keynote
talked
about
the
importance
of
building
relationships
with
our
children
and
with
our
colleagues.
She
also
talked
about
finding
joy,
the
quiet
and
the
loud
joy.
We
hope
that
today,
while
you
are
here
with
us,
you
will
experience
both
at
this
time.
I
have
just
a
few
short
announcements
before
we
begin
our
day.
This
year
we
have
a
photo
scavenger
hunt,
it's
called
MRA
click
and
it's
in
your
app
yesterday
it
was
a
big
hit.
We
had
many
people
using
the
feature.
B
We
hope
that
you'll
join
us
again
today,
the
winner,
the
complementary,
is
complimentary
registration
for
our
conference
next
year,
as
well
as
a
one
night
stay
at
the
Marriott
hotel,
but
we
also
have
many
other
prizes
that
have
been
generously
donated
by
our
sponsors
and
our
publishers.
Please
note
that
if
you
played
yesterday
and
you'd
like
to
play
again
today,
you
need
to
close
the
app
and
refresh
it
in
order
to
play
today.
You
must
also
be
present
at
our
closing
keynote
speaker
in
order
to
win
speaking
of
the
closing
keynote.
B
If
you
heard
a
little
bit
of
marvin
turbine
yesterday,
you
know
that
you'll
be
surely
entertained
and
we'd
like
to
invite
you
to
join
us
and
stay
for
that
closing
keynote.
The
vendor
tables
today
will
close
at
1
o
clock.
So,
if
you'd
like
to
visit
the
vendors,
please
do
so
by
1
p.m.
and
also
them.
Please
visit
our
membership
table
where
there's
a
raffle
and
you
can
learn
more
about
MRA
MRA
will
turn
50
next
year.
We
are
very
excited
and
we
are
very
proud
of
our
organization.
B
B
Continue
to
improve
the
experience
for
everyone.
Unfortunately,
there
is
one
canceled
session.
It's
an
11:30
session
called
literacy,
robotics
and
engineering,
and
the
presenters
were
unable
to
be
with
us
here
today
believe
those
are
all
of
the
announcements,
and
now
we
can
move
on
with
some
of
the
important
things
on
our
agenda.
We
will
begin
with
a
special
presentation,
so
I
would
invite
mayor
Martin
Walsh
to
the
stage.
B
Mra
has
an
advocacy
committee
who
works
year-round
on
local
and
national
education
policy
decisions.
They
are
also
tasked
with
finding
us
state
leaders
who
have
made
a
difference
in
the
causes.
We
believe
in
I
would
like
to
thank
the
Advocacy
Committee
for
their
work,
and
especially
the
chair,
Evelyn
Waugh,.
B
Mr
a
chooses,
a
policymaker
who
has
promoted
programs
and
the
appropriation
of
funding
to
improve
the
literacy
skills
of
the
children
and
the
residents
in
our
state.
As
mayor
of
Boston,
you
have
worked
to
support
literacy
and
education
for
all
Boston
residents
preschool
to
adult
your
goal
has
been
to
promote
lifelong
literacy
and
to
develop
educational
pathways,
with
an
emphasis
on
empowering
Bostonians
to
fulfill
their
educational
and
their
employment
aspirations.
B
Each
year
since
taking
office,
you
have
substantially
increased
funding
for
education
by
adding
millions
of
dollars
to
the
education
budget
in
2014,
recognizing
the
need
to
provide
access
to
quality
early
childhood
education.
You
created
the
universal
pre-k
Advisory
Committee.
Since
that
time
you
have
added
over
1,000
pre-k
seats
to
high-quality
three
early
childhood
programs
in
Gaza.
B
Your
commitment
to
improving
the
literacy
skills
in
closing
the
achievement
and
the
opportunity
gap
of
all
Boston
students
and
residents
is
recognized
and
appreciated
by
the
Massachusetts
Reading
Association.
At
this
time,
I
will
read
the
award
that
we
are
presenting
to
the
mayor.
It
reads:
Massachusetts
Reading
Association,
an
affiliate
of
the
International
literacy
Association
2017-2018
reading
advocate
award
presented
to
Mayor
Martin
J
Walsh
for
leadership
in
promoting
legislation
and
funding
for
literacy,
education
initiatives
in
Boston
and
the
Commonwealth.
C
Actually,
really
clapping
for
all
of
you:
the
teachers,
the
educators,
the
coaches,
the
advocates
all
the
people
in
Sherman
I
want
to
thank
all
of
you.
This
is
an
honor.
For
me,
it's
really
not
my
award.
This
is
what's
happening
in
the
city
of
Boston
and
there's
a
lot
of
people
that
do
the
work
every
single
day,
the
teachers
in
our
schools,
the
principals
in
our
schools,
the
leadership
at
our
central
office
and
the
kids
in
our
classrooms.
So,
on
behalf
of
all
of
those
folks,
I
want
to
thank
you
for
this
recognition
today.
C
I
want
to
thank
all
the
members
of
the
Massachusetts
Reading
Association
and
the
special
shout
out
to
the
Boston
educators.
Here
I
know
we
have
teachers
from
the
Mason
from
the
match,
shot
of
school
and
other
schools
in
Boston.
So
thank
you
for
what
you
do
every
day.
Thank
you
for
the
other
prints
of
the
other
schools
and
other
teachers
from
around
the
Commonwealth
of
Massachusetts
I've
met
a
bunch
of
people
in
the
front
here,
and
everyone
is
happy
today.
So
this
is
a
good
conference.
When
you
go
to
everybody
is
happy.
C
It's
just
an
amazing
school
in
the
city
of
Boston,
and
you
can
see
I
see
often
times
when
I
walk
into
a
school
I
can
tell
pretty
much
right
away
how
the
culture
in
that
school
is
because
I
watched
the
interaction
between
the
students
and
the
teachers,
the
teachers
and
the
principals
and
the
leadership,
and
if
everyone
is
smiling-
and
everyone
is
talking-
you
know
that
that
school
successful
so
again.
Thank
you.
Thank
you
to
all
the
teachers
that
are
here.
C
C
Congratulations
on
your
50th
anniversary,
50
years
of
supporting
educators,
50
years
of
advocating
for
students
of
all
ages
and
all
needs
and
adults
as
well.
When
you
talk
about
literacy,
I
know
that
part
of
a
part
of
that
is
making
sure
we
have
adult
literacy
programs
in
the
state
and
the
Commonwealth,
something
that's
really
important
to
us.
Thank
you
for
that
advocacy.
C
Thank
you
for
bringing
research,
research
and
evidence
Table,
something
that
is
so
extremely
important,
particularly
today
about
all
the
time,
but
really
today
about
how
do
we
make
sure
that
the
investments
that
we're
making
are
investments
that
are
actually
making
a
difference?
I
want
to
thank
you
for
that
50
years
for
pushing
our
society
to
understand
that
literacy
is
the
fundamental
to
everything
that
we
hope
to
achieve.
So
this
organization
is
so
important
and
we
need
you
as
much
today
as
50
years
ago,
when
this
organization
was
started,
it's
something
that
we
cannot
stop.
C
We
have
to
continue
to
move
forward.
We
talk
an
awful
lot
about
the
problem
of
income
inequality.
We
talk
about
youth,
violence
and
substance
abuse.
We
talk
about
civic
engagement
and
voter
apathy,
but
the
solutions
to
these
problems
are
in
this
room
and
you
have
them
it's
literacy,
it's
education,
it's
lifelong
learning
and
that's
what
we
really
have
to
continue
to
push
as
we
move
forward
and
as
mayor.
These
are
the
goals
that
I
prioritize.
C
You
are
the
kind
of
leaders
that
I
listen
and
what
listen
to
will
work
with,
and
that's
why,
in
in
Boston
Public
Schools
in
five
years,
we've
raised
our
budget
by
170
million
dollars.
Our
budget
is
now
over
1.1
billion,
it's
higher
than
that.
I'm
actually
gonna
make
an
announcement
tomorrow
about
our
budget,
but
we're
spending
about
$20,000
per
student
for
about
57,000,
kids.
C
Which
it
seems
like
a
lot
of
money
and
there's
a
lot
of
money,
but
when
you
think
about
the
challenges
that
we
face
as
an
urban
school
district,
sometimes
we
say
well,
that's
not
enough,
but
we're
trying
to
continue
to
improve,
not
just
in
the
financing
inside
the
school
we
launched
what
was
called
bog
bill.
Bps,
a
1
billion
dollar
facilities
program.
2/3
of
the
schools
in
the
city
of
Boston,
were
built
before
World
War
2.
Our
schools
need
libraries,
they
need
kitchens,
they
need
technology,
they
need,
they
need
special
needs
facilities.
C
We
have
four
schools
already
in
the
process
of
being
renovated
and
reconstructed
in
the
city
of
Boston,
so
we're
going
to
continue
to
get
on
a
plan,
but
we
can
reinvest
and
build
all
of
our
schools
to
make
sure
that
we
have
when
our
children
walk
into
a
school,
they
walk
into
a
21st
century
school,
not
a
school
that
was
built
in
the
19th
or
20th
century.
It's
something
that's
really
important
for
us.
We're
also
investing
in
our
Boston
public
libraries.
We've
renovated
central,
the
Central
Library.
C
Libraries
replaced
we're
reading
turns
from
skill
into
passion,
especially
in
some
of
our
lower
income
neighborhoods.
We
are
making
our
entire
city
a
classroom
and
continue
to
move
there
well
extended
the
school
day,
one
when
I
ran
for
mayor
of
Boston
in
five
years
ago.
We
would
criticize
would
be
having
the
shorter
school
day
in
the
country,
with
the
help
of
sitting
down
with
the
teachers
and
the
teachers
union
and
all
of
us
together
we're
able
to
come
up
with
an
extension
of
40
minutes.
C
40
minutes
out
of
to
our
day,
which
amounts
to
a
month
of
additional
learning
in
a
year
for
our
young
people.
Will
the
Delta
developing
groundbreaking
curriculum,
more
rigorous
in
innovation,
more
culturally
responsive
than
ever
before?
That's
especially
true
in
reading
nearly
half
our
students
speak
a
language
other
than
English
at
home.
They
are
first-generation
Americans
like
I
was.
They
need
to
see
themselves
reflected
in
that
way,
so
they
can
in
their
reading.
So
they
can
learn
from
that.
Most
importantly,
we've
doubled
down
an
early
childhood
education.
It's
literally
where
it
all
begins.
C
I
know
that
we
talk
about
what
we've
done
in
the
city.
Added
adding
a
thousand
pre-k
CH,
which
is
great,
but
we
have
about
3,000
kids
that
are
looking
for
pre-k
seats
and
not
just
pre-k
C's,
high-quality
pre-kindergarten
seats
and
we'll
work
with
the
legislature
at
the
Statehouse.
To
make
this
happen,
I
was
a
legislator.
I
love.
My
colleagues
at
the
Statehouse
we've
been
talking
about
universal
pre-kindergarten
for
20
years.
We
don't
need
to
talk
about
anymore.
We
know
that
it
works.
The
studies
show
that
it
works.
It
shows
the
better
outcome.
C
If
we
want
to
make
investments
that
make
a
difference,
that's
the
investment
that
probably
makes
the
biggest
difference,
because
it
solves
a
lot
of
the
other
social
issues
that
we
have
to
pay
for
later
on
down
the
road.
If
we
don't
put
the
money
up
front
for
our
young
people,
I
know
a
lot
of
you
in
this
room
are
familiar
with
the
word
gap
by
the
age
of
five.
Low-Income
children
have
heard
30
million
fewer
words
and
their
peers.
C
The
effects
of
early
literacy
and
more
has
a
lifelong,
lasting
impact
in
our
schools
in
Korea's
in
wages.
So
we
have
to
make
sure
that
intervention
begins
at
birth.
It's
something
that's
really
important.
We
launched
a
program
called
Boston
basics.
It's
a
partnership
with
the
black
philanthropy
fund
in
the
achievement
gap
initiative
at
Harvard.
It
shares
parenting
and
caregiving
strategies
to
help
young
brains
development
and
gives
children
a
more
equal
start.
C
And
finally,
we
talked
a
little
bit
about
the
high-quality
pre-kindergarten
program
that
we
have
to
do
these
classrooms,
that
we
have
of
the
gold
standard,
they're
proven
by
research
to
close
achievement
gaps
and
by
closing
the
opportunity
gaps
and
we're
gonna
continue
to
fight
til.
We
get
those
seats
fully
funded.
The
good
news
is
I
said
earlier.
We
have
a
pathway
because
there,
all
of
our
elected
officials,
all
of
our
legislature,
are
talking
about
it.
Not
every
school
system
in
this
room
needs
really
pre-kindergarten,
but
some
most
of
us
do
so
it's
important
one.
C
The
one
thing
I'll
ask
you
to
do
is
make
sure
when
you
see
your
elected
officials,
when
you
see
a
selectman
and
your
talents,
Tom
managers
and
your
City
Council
and
your
mayor's,
and
when
you
see,
if
state
representatives
and
state
senators
just
put
that
bug
in
there
and
explain
to
them
the
importance
of
that
explain
to
them
what
it
actually
means
to
have
early
good,
high
quality
early
childhood
education
across
the
board.
So
they
understand
for
hearing
from
you
the
experts
in
the
room
that
they
understand
how
important
that
says.
C
We
created
an
infrastructure
for
universal
pre-kindergarten
program.
We
have
a
bill,
that's
going
to
fund
it
to
the
legislature
and
we
brought
in
our
nonprofit
partners.
So
we
think
about
universal
pre-kindergarten.
It's
not
just
about
Boston
Public
Schools
will
of
charter
schools,
educating
our
young
people,
it's
also
about
wowing,
some
of
our
nonprofits.
They
do
a
really
good
job,
universal
pre-kindergarten
and
working
with
them
on
pathways.
So
when
the
parent
sends
that
a
kid
to
a
Boys,
&,
Girls,
Club
or
YMCA
for
universal
pre-k,
they
know
when
they
go
to
kindergarten.
C
They
know
they
will
know
in
Boston
where
they
going
to
kindergarten
and
we're
working
on
a
pathway.
So
that's
something
again.
That's
really
important
in
Boston
we're
proud
of
the
progress
we've
made
today,
we're
releasing
our
2017
scores
on
the
National
Assessment
of
Educational,
Progress,
known
as
that.
The
nation's
report
card,
our
fourth
graders
and
eighth
graders,
despite
all
their
challenges,
are
reading
at
a
national
level
and
are
improving
every
single
year.
We
owe
thank
you.
C
C
It's
a
testament
to
reading
research,
innovation,
investment
and
it's
a
testament
to
great
teaching
in
the
work
of
the
great
teaching
organizations
like
mass
reading
Association
before
I
finish
with
this
fight
say
end
here:
I
just
want
to.
Thank
you
all
for
your
work.
You
know
I
when
I.
When
I
give
my
speech
it
today,
I
talk
about
the
positive
things
that
happen
in
our
district
there's
a
lot
of
great
things,
but
there's
still
a
lot
of
work
we
have
to
do.
We
can't
rest.
C
We
can't
stop,
because
if
you
rest
it'll
stop
you
wouldn't
be
here.
Learning
today
you
wouldn't
be
having
this
conference
and
how
do
you
better?
How
do
you
get
better
education
on
schools?
So
we
do
have
a
lot
of
work.
So
I
look
forward
to
working
with
you.
This
organization
in
the
future
I
wish
you
another
50
years
of
success.
Our
Commonwealth
and
our
country
needs
you
more
than
ever
now.
Thank
you
for
being
here
today
and
I.
C
Our
economy
is
enhanced
when
learners
have
higher
literacy
levels.
Fifty
years
later,
the
Massachusetts
Reading
Association
continues
to
lead
educational
organizations
that
advocate
for
literacy
of
all
learners,
the
City
of
Austin
honors,
the
Massachusetts
Reading
Association
for
its
five
decades
of
sharing
literacy,
information,
expertise
and
resources
through
professional
development,
publications
and
media.
Now,
I'm,
Montand,
J,
Walsh
mayor
the
city
of
Boston
to
hereby
proclaim
April
10th
to
be
Massachusetts
Reading
Association
day.
I
know
we're
in
Quincy
in
the
city
of
Boston
and
I'm,
taking
honors
from
me,
a
cog
in
in
the
city
of
Quincy.