States have long been interested in seeing their students read proficiently by 3rd grade. And once the requirements of No Child Left Behind kicked in, they faced escalating consequences for

not reaching that goal. Often, though, they weren’t thinking about—or able to align—the policies necessary to build literacy in the years leading up to 3rd grade. A crop of new state laws

and local initiatives is trying to tackle that problem. I round them up for you in a story just posted on edweek.org.