One of the central messages of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s final State of the State address was that kids in Michigan are struggling mightily to read at grade level.
Michigan currently ranks 44th in 4th-grade literacy – meaning four in 10 kids are reading at their correct grade level.
Whitmer is pushing a new “Every Child Reads” plan — including a proposed $625 million investment with more training, tutoring, and small-group help.
“Illiteracy is a challenge that compounds over time,” Whitmer said during the address on Wednesday (Feb. 26). “How could anyone enjoy learning if you can’t read your textbook?”
Now, the latest set of numbers for 2024-2025 has come out, covering numerous school districts in Southeast Michigan.
Ann Arbor Schools had a proficiency level of 60 percent. Plymouth’s were at 55%.
In Dearborn, the number drops to 41 percent. While the Wayne-Westland Schools are at just 20.7%.
As for the state’s largest district, the Detroit Public Schools, numbers range from just 11.7% to 15.7% – by far the worst in the state.
“The governor could not be more spot on with focusing on literacy,” Dr. Catherine Cost, Wayne-Westland’s interim superintendent, said on Thursday. “Without literacy, we know students can’t read math problems, they can’t do science, they can’t do social studies.”
Part of the governor’s bipartisan plan to address the proficiency gap has been funding for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training.
It focuses on how the brain learns to read and is often referred to as the “science of reading.”
Wayne-Westland took advantage of the training and integrated it into its curriculum.
“How we teach reading now is in small groups. It’s peer to peer,” Cost said. “So, it’s very active. It’s not a person in the front of the room.”
The LETRS training has been mandated so that by the 2027-2028 school year, districts around the state will have most of their teachers trained in it.
And it has had proven results around the country, particularly in Mississippi.
After being ranked 50th in literacy, the nation’s laughingstock, they instituted the training in 2013.
As of 2025, Mississippi’s public schools’ literacy scores are among the best in the nation, ranked in the top 20.
Cost says that training has started to yield results with their fourth- and fifth-graders.
She acknowledged the deficit and noted they’re still seeing the pandemic’s damage, but she feels the turnaround is coming.
“We used to teach comprehension, but we don’t do that anymore,” Cost said. “We know that if we teach the foundational blocks and fluency, those things will lead to comprehension.”
“There’s been an evolution on how children learn,” Cost added, “and we’re able to embrace that.”