average\u00a0score\u00a0for fourth-grade reading<\/a> in Milwaukee\u00a0was 179. That was significantly lower than the\u00a0average score\u00a0of 208 for students in large cities.<\/p>\nWhat You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Milwaukee Reading Coalition consists of city leaders, educators and community members who share a common goal: to improve early literacy across the city
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The group comes after last year’s NAEP scores revealed a need for major improvement in reading. In 2024, the average score for fourth-grade reading in Milwaukee was 179, which is 29 points below the average large city score
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The coalition will work to secure public and private funding to provide teacher training on the “Science of Reading” for all kindergarten through third-grade teachers
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The Science\u00a0of Reading is\u00a0now the approach being used state\u00a0and nationwide. Before\u00a0this, the\u00a0dominant method was \u201cbalanced literacy,\u201d which put more\u00a0focus on kids guessing words using context clues and pictures<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Milwaukee\u00a0Reading\u00a0Coalition\u00a0is made\u00a0up of local civic and business leaders,\u00a0educators, community members and dozens of organizations. Using public and private\u00a0funds and donations, the coalition\u00a0is looking to provide\u00a0teacher training for all kindergarten through third-grade\u00a0teachers and principals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jessica Condit, a first-grade\u00a0teacher at the\u00a0United Community Center\u2019s Bruce-Guadalupe\u00a0Community School, has gone\u00a0through the\u00a0training.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI say the\u00a0words, you saw the\u00a0sounds,\u201d she\u00a0said to her class. \u201cIn learning letters and sounds, we\u2019re starting to put them together and blend them into words. They\u2019re\u00a0thriving on it. They like\u00a0the\u00a0routines. It\u2019s making it fun for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0training she\u00a0went through follows a method called \u201cthe\u00a0science\u00a0of reading.\u201d It puts a bigger focus on phonics to connect letters with the sounds they make. The Science\u00a0of Reading is\u00a0now the approach being used state\u00a0and nationwide. Before\u00a0this, the\u00a0dominant method was \u201cbalanced literacy,\u201d which put more\u00a0focus on kids guessing words using context clues and pictures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u00a0know how the\u00a0brain develops language, and our brains are\u00a0not wired for written print. The\u00a0previous method, which was more\u00a0about immersing kids in books to get them to read, was debunked,\u201d said Condit.<\/p>\n
Former Milwaukee\u00a0Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Howard Fuller is co-chairing the\u00a0Milwaukee Reading\u00a0Coalition\u00a0with former MPS school board member Mark Sain, and the\u00a0President and CEO of Herb Kohl Philanthropies, JoAnne\u00a0Anton.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0hope\u00a0is that once\u00a0teachers are\u00a0trained in the\u00a0science\u00a0of reading, it\u2019s going to be\u00a0a significant boost to our children learning to read,\u201d said Fuller, who considers literacy one\u00a0of the\u00a0most powerful tools to reduce\u00a0socio-economic disparities. \u201cOur kids can\u2019t read. We\u00a0need to put aside\u00a0our differences and unite\u00a0around a strategy to improve\u00a0reading in the\u00a0City of Milwaukee.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE \u2014\u00a0A new group called the\u00a0Milwaukee\u00a0Reading\u00a0Coalition\u00a0is working to boost\u00a0early literacy citywide. The goal is to\u00a0ensure\u00a0every student in the\u00a0city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[25638,292,25635,227,25637,139,128,130,129,295,25636,5150],"class_list":{"0":"post-42944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-app-education","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-around-the-us","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-haley-kosik","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-vod","19":"tag-wisconsin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}