Reading & Literacy News in Brief

Zuckerberg, Chan Donate $30 Million to Help Improve Student Literacy

By The Associated Press — March 20, 2018 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are giving Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology $30 million to help improve the literacy skills of elementary students across the nation.

The Reach Every Reader program will combine scientific research with methods of tracking and predicting students’ reading abilities to develop a web-based screening tool to identify kindergartners at high risk of reading difficulties.

Chan called the five-year effort “a unique combination of cutting-edge education and neuroscience research.”

Zuckerberg created Facebook while he was a Harvard student but dropped out. Chan graduated from the Ivy League school in 2007.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the March 21, 2018 edition of Education Week as Zuckerberg, Chan Donate $30 Million to Help Improve Student Literacy

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Closing the Practice Gap: Essential Insights for Leaders
Three instructional experts will share strategies for making students’ reading and math practice more engaging and impactful this year.
Content provided by Renaissance

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Reading & Literacy Why Mandatory Summer Reading Doesn’t Work—and What Teachers Prefer Instead
Summer reading shouldn’t be prescriptive, most teachers say.
1 min read
Animated illustration of a beach scene with sand in the foreground and water in the background with an open book's pages flipping and a beach ball and seashell sitting next to it.
Illustration by Emily Wright for Education Week + Getty
Reading & Literacy Can the Prospect of 3rd Grade Retention Improve Early Literacy? Yes, Study Says
The findings add another wrinkle to an ongoing debate over retention policies tied to reading scores.
5 min read
20260710 AMX US NEWS 1 TEACHER 24 THIRD GRADERS 1 PO
Third grade teacher Anne Harris checks her watch before the start of the school day on April 24, 2026, at Glenfare Elementary in Portland, Ore.
Beth Nakamura via TNS
Reading & Literacy Spotlight From Teacher Overload to Literacy Impact
New research, literacy shifts, and teacher support strategies are reshaping instruction and classroom practice nationwide.
Reading & Literacy Opinion ‘A Blessing and a Challenge’: What Teachers Think of the Science of Reading
In these classrooms, the recent push for foundational literacy skills has been transformational.
7 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week