Race to read: Program aims to get MPS students reading at grade level by end of third grade
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Twice a week across nine Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) buildings, volunteers crouch into small chairs for one-on-one instruction with some of the district's youngest students who've fallen behind on reading.
Those participating in the Forward Scholars program are in a race against time. They're working to get their kids to read at grade level by the time they finish third grade.
"Research says that by the end of third grade, if students are not reading at grade level, they most likely will have difficulty in school with the subjects they need to study," Elizabeth Miller, the program's site coordinator at 95th Street School said. "And then they'll just be behind."
Recent national testing found MPS has some of the nation's worst reading scores among large urban districts. Only 27% of 4th graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam were reading at grade level.
"You're in the game or you're not in the game," Brigid Enright, a volunteer in the program, said. "You're a reader or you're not, and if you're not and you think that you're not, a lot of kids decide, 'Well, I just guess I'm not going to be a reader.'"
Enright is one of Forward Scholars' 270 regular and substitute tutors working with 250 regular and substitute students across nine MPS schools.
The program is making a difference for teachers who notice which students are falling behind but can only do so much.
"We try and do small group instruction, but with 32 students in the class, they're often interrupted, and we do as best as we can in here," Katie Frahm, a first-grade teacher at 95th Street School, said. "But yeah, they would have to find some sort of tutoring outside of school."
The program is under the umbrella of the nonprofit group, Common Ground. It launched in 2022 at five MPS schools.
Carrie Streiff-Stuessy, the program's director, said the goal is to expand to 11 MPS schools next year. That will require more volunteers and more funding.
Streiff-Stuessy said Forward Scholars also wants to expand to one charter and one private school, but it will need a total of 320 regular and substitute tutors.
The goal is to land more funding from outside organizations, and Forward Scholars also hopes to receive funding from MPS as part of its operating budget.
"We definitely need volunteers, volunteer tutors, which can be any adult that really wants to come and make a difference in the lives of children," Miller said. "You don't have to be former educator to be a tutor."
Tutors go through a structured training program where they learn the phonics-based instruction they'll give to their students. Non-educators are welcome to take part, and this report signed onto the program as a regular tutor at 95th Street School in January.
Enright, a retired reading recovery specialist who spent most of her career in the small town of Milton near Janesville, expressed frustration there's not already enough funding to staff all Milwaukee schools with more early literacy coaches.
"Just crazy that we're asking volunteers to do this," she said. "That's crazy and irresponsible."
Enright has seen the program work. She notes one key to its success is the trust tutors build by meeting with the same students twice a week. She said she's seen an incredible transformation with her second-grader, Jamal.
"It took a long time for Jamal and I to establish a relationship where he would understand that this is serious, and it's in his best interest to try," she said. "He can go back and re-read if it doesn't make sense to him. He can start monitoring his reading and listen to see, 'Does it sound like talking? Does this make any sense? If not, I should do something about it.'"
Miller said she's seen multiple incredible transformations. She highlighted the story of a second-grader who started the year reading at an early kindergarten level and didn't know all the letters in his first name. As the school year comes to an end, that student is now able to read books on his own.
"The adult has to convince that kid and show that kid you are a reader," Enright said. "You're a storyteller, you're a thinker, you're a writer. You can do all of those things."
Enright insisted those are the lessons that will last a lifetime.
"You take yourself with you everywhere, right? You don't take the teacher with you everywhere," she said. "So, it's powerful. It's really, really powerful."