Reading is a child's passport to the future, a passport out of ignorance and poverty into social and economic advancement; yet, in Michigan and throughout the nation, too many students, especially those in chronically low-performing schools, remain unable to read independently by the end of third grade. Third grade is pivotal in that if a child is unable to read well by then, they are likely to be impeded in their ability to comprehend (analyze, evaluate, reflect) and thereby profit from the learning ahead. In a technological society, the demand for higher literacy is substantially increasing. As a nation, we must rise to the higher standard and educate our children so they can participate well in society.

Michigan's Reading First plan, Making Reading First in Michigan, is designed to ensure that all children learn to read well by the end of third grade. This plan will implement high quality research-based reading programs; reliable and valid assessment tools to effectively screen and monitor reading progress and diagnose reading difficulties; high quality professional development to ensure K-3 teachers and K-12 special education teachers have the skills necessary to teach effectively; and strengthened school leadership and infrastructure to focus,coordinate, and sustain efforts resulting in literacy achievement.

Findings from Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children indicate that good instruction transcends characterization of children's vulnerability for failure; the samegood early literacy environment and patterns of effective instruction are required for children who might fail for different reasons. Effective teachers are able to craft a special mix of instructional ingredients for every child they work with, yet there is a common menu of materials, strategies, and environments from which effective teachers make choices. It is in these findings that Michigan sets forth in Making Reading First in Michigan to accomplish all children reading on or above grade level.

Michigan has 3,800 public schools and public school academies that serve 1.7 million students enrolled in kindergarten through twelfth grades. Of those schools, 2,214 serve 532,681 children in grades kindergarten through third grade. Many of these children are making good progress in their literacy development, but we still have far too many children performing in the lowest category of Michigan's state assessment for reading. Thus far, Michigan has not been able to upwardly move the number of students in the lowest category.

The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) Reading scores provide a picture of overall performance. The MEAP reading test scores over the past several years indicates few changes in fourth grade students' performance. In Table 1, seventeen percent (17%) of Michigan's fourth graders are performing in the lowest category and that number hasn't changed in four years. Likewise, the percentage of students performing at the moderate level and satisfactory level in reading at the fourth grade has not changed significantly over the past four years. Thus, in identifying schools for Reading First eligibility, the information from the MEAP performance has been employed to identify districts that have a significant number and/or percentage of children scoring in the low category of the MEAP Reading test.

Excerpt From: Make Reading First in Michigan