The Right to Read

Last week, the ACLU of Michigan filed a groundbreaking class action lawsuit on behalf of eight Highland Park students asserting a child's fundamental right to read.  The learning proficiency rates in Highland Park are as shocking as they are heartbreaking.

Fewer than 10% of Highland Park students in third through eighth grades are proficient in reading and math, based on data gathered from the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) scores.  By 11th grade, students are not doing any better, with fewer than 10% scoring proficient in reading and math.

Hear from one family trying to get help in Highland Park:



Of course, this isn't a problem unique to Detroit or our nation's impoverished urban centers.  According to Reading Matters to Maine, a group dedicated to improving literacy education in Maine, currently 3 of 10 Maine fourth grade students are not reading proficiently: