Michigan ranks 44th in literacy: How the state could boost that number
The Governor's plan to boost student literacy
Wednesday, Governor Whitmer said in her State of the State address in Lansing that Michigan is 44th in the U.S. for fourth-grade reading proficiency, calling it "a serious problem."
LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Michigan ranks 44th in the nation in literacy. That’s what Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared in her last State of the State address.
The few people FOX 2 spoke with on Thursday said they couldn’t believe it. But hope isn’t lost.
What they're saying:
"I was shocked too, because I know that teachers and librarians across the state work so hard to help children learn to read and reading comprehension," said Royal Oak Library Director Sandy Irwin. "But all of that really does start at an early age. So it’s disappointing, but we can lift that up. We can lift that up through taking that extra effort when our children are small."
Irwin says one of the best ways to increase literacy is to start reading to kids for 10 to 15 minutes a day. Read with them, she says. Get a library card.
Wednesday, Governor Whitmer said in her State of the State address in Lansing that Michigan is 44th in the U.S. for fourth-grade reading proficiency, calling it "a serious problem."
Dig deeper:
Alexandra Stamm with the Michigan League for Public Policy agrees. She says her office saw the decline begin in the early 2000s, when there was significant disinvestment in public education.
So the plan, she says, is to reinvest in kids and classrooms and make sure students are being screened and provided proper intervention if they need it.
There’s policy that will go into effect next school year to help with that.
"We call it the dyslexia legislation," said Stamm. "So as our students are screened for reading issues in K through 3, they will also be screened for signs of dyslexia, which is something that we haven’t been screening for before. If a student shows signs of dyslexia in those early years when they’re learning to read, they have to be provided interventions that are based in phonics and the science of reading — the kind of approach that was around when we were learning to read."
What's next:
Stamm says hope isn’t gone. What encourages her, she says, is that there are a lot of former teachers in the legislature.