Community Board 2 committee backs $500,000 NYSED funding request to expand science-of-reading in teacher prep

Community Board 2's Schools and Education Committee on March heard a presentation from Emily Helmstrom, co‑founder and director of external affairs and strategy for the Literacy Academy Collective, and discussed a resolution urging the state to include $500,000 in NYSED funding to implement the New York State Path Forward action plan to expand evidence‑based reading instruction in educator preparation programs.

Helmstrom framed the work as urgent and systemic. “We believe that literacy is a civil right,” she said, and pointed to recent national assessment data she described as poor — she cited that roughly 31 percent of New York State students were reading at or above proficiency on recent NAEP results and noted much lower rates for some student groups. Helmstrom described the Literacy Academy Collective’s South Bronx Literacy Academy (an in‑district public school serving students with dyslexia and other language‑based learning needs) and plans for a Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy in District 17, and she outlined a statewide initiative, the New York State Path Forward action plan, intended to align educator preparation with evidence‑based literacy practices.

Why it matters: Committee members were told the proposal…