LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The “Read by Grade Three” law requires third graders scoring under a 1252 to be eligible to repeat the year and requires schools to use particular reading instructional materials. 

A recent study indicates that many elementary schools were using a reading curriculum that was rated poorly or not rated at all within the study according to MLIVE.  The study by the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative found 170 different curriculums were used across elementary grades alone in Michigan. 

MORE NEWS: A New Adventure at Sailors Old Growth Pines

“I want to make sure that the instructional materials that my kids’ teachers are using are the most likely to support their reading development, right?” MSU associate professor of education Tanya Wright said. “So we want to have processes to make sure that instructional materials that reflect what the research says about kids’ literacy development are making their way into classrooms.”

While not confirmed in how many classrooms it was used as supplemental or as a main curriculum, more than 30% of the surveyed teachers and 13% of the surveyed districts used materials from Fountas & Pinnell. 

The assessment organization for class materials, EdReports’ assessment deemed the materials to be a very low rating – in part for its limited grammar instruction and insufficiently complex reading materials for each grade level. 

“Without a quality foundational skills program that teaches students how to read fluently, it’s going to be difficult for students to succeed in any other content area,” said Jamilah Hicks, EdReports director of English language arts. “They’re not going to have the skills that they need to be able to access complex texts.”

“A more systematic process for selection that folks could agree to or that our state could recommend would be a first step,” Wright said. 

Ultimately, it is the state board of education that is responsible for developing a recommended model core curriculum for the local school districts. The curriculum defines the outcomes to be achieved by all K–12 pupils. The board will make the model curriculum available to nonpublic schools for their consideration in developing their own core curriculums.”  But the individual school boards are tasked with taking the state recommendations and implementing them on the local district level. 

MORE NEWS: Old Newspaper Box Transformed into Narcan Dispenser at Western Michigan University

“We want our children to receive the best quality literacy instruction that they can,” Wright said. “It’s likely that some materials are better than others, and so we want as much attention as possible to getting high quality materials into classrooms.”

But most contend that the main cause of the low scores were from the pandemic.  Regardless of the reason, many state educators recognize the need for change in Michigan’s education curriculum choice. 

“Statistically, we are not alone nationally,” Michigan’s state superintendent of education Rice wrote. “Most states were adversely affected in, and by, the pandemic. That said, instructionally, we have a great deal of work to do.”