MichiganRadio

DPS Starts Volunteer Reading Corps DETROIT, MI (Michigan Radio) - The Detroit Public Schools is instituting a Reading Corps to help students struggling with basic literacy skills.

The program is a direct response to National Assessment of Educational Progress math test scores released last week, which showed Detroit fourth- and eighth-graders posting the worst scores in the test's history.

DPS Chief Academic and Accountability Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett says it's disturbing that Detroit students are scoring well below even their counterparts in comparable urban districts. She says these national test results shows how much work the district has to do.

"This is like extending the MEAP that we currently have, in our state standards," Byrd-Bennett said. "But we've got to stretch even higher, and we've got to run this race even faster, if we are going to catch up."

Byrd-Bennett notes that while the record-low scores were in math, DPS is creating the Corps because reading is the key to success in other content areas. The district says it has already signed up hundreds of volunteers, and will launch the program in January.
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