Naomi Martin

After years of dismally low reading scores, the state’s largest school system is making a dramatic shift toward “structured literacy,” instruction that draws on a body of research.

Parents, experts, and educators told — well, shouted, at — the Globe. It’s time, they said, for the state to dream big and organize a massive push to catch kids up.

The report ranked Mass. 35th for teaching new educators how to instruct students on phonics, vocabulary, and other core components of reading.

After leaving the helm of Somerville’s schools last fall to lead BPS, former teacher Mary Skipper is confronting the challenge of her career: turning around a school system that fails thousands of children every year.

A tweet showing the assignment quickly went viral, drawing within hours more than 3,300 retweets, 36,000 likes, and hundreds of responses.

The push to move schools back toward pre-pandemic operations is escalating tensions between two impassioned groups: those who say that schools have done too much, for too long, to stop the virus, and those who maintain that not enough is being done.

The ballot measure doesn’t carry legal weight, but councilors say it will prompt them to push for changes that will democratize school decision-making and empower communities of color who have long felt ignored by the appointed committee.

Across Boston Public Schools, 86 percent of students are children of color, while only 39 percent of nearly 2,600 teachers are Black, Latino, or Asian-American.

Multiple bills being considered propose changing how MCAS affects students and schools, including one that calls for eliminating the state-mandated exams altogether.

Seek help if you notice any significant changes in your children, such as extreme fear or worry, nightmares, dramatic mood changes, sudden aggression or disobedience, changes in academic performance, loss of interest in hobbies, or a sudden lack of interest in friendships.