(bright music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program was provided by Capital Area United Way.

(gentle music) - Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.

- Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

- [Amelia] These are my books and I have my favorite one here.

- Come when I call, puppy, please, please, please, please.

(gentle music) - This one's my favorite book.

- My teacher in first grade, she read it to me and I loved it.

- You ready to read this one?

- Yeah, here we go.

- Come on, let's go.

It's time to start our new rock show.

- [Producer] Do you like it when your mom reads to you?

- Of course.

- Let me drive the bus.

- Collette, who's this?

An elephant.

- [Producer] Do you like it when your mom reads to you?

- [Boy] Yeah, because she's my best, best, best friend.

- [Producer] Why do you like it when your mom reads to you?

- Because I love her and I love books.

(gentle music) (school bell rings) (gentle music) - Imagine for a moment, where would we be without this gift of literacy?

- Do I think that there are students in my classroom who don't know how to read?

I think there are students in my classroom who deeply struggle with reading, absolutely.

(gentle music) - 30% of Michigan third graders have not been afforded the gift of literacy.

- There is a right to education.

There is a right to know how to read.

(gentle music) - This is important to me, because I have a third grader right now.

This is a very big piece of legislation.

(gentle music) - This right to read by third grade, this is where I think the con comes in.

You can't mandate these kinds of standards when there's varied access to literacy.

- I don't want to see my child held behind and I don't want to see any other child held behind.

- Everybody wants our kids to be reading.

We know that retention is not research-based, so that is not the solution.

- The whole point of the legislation was not to hold kids back.

I don't want to hold kids back.

I want kids tested and intervened with and helped, but you gotta have a stick to make it happen.

- I am not gonna remove the hope of a nine-year-old.

If they're working hard, they're playing by the rules, they're doing everything right, they're nine-years-old and then you take it away.

What do you think they're gonna do for the rest of their educational career?

They're not gonna try, because they played by the rules and they got screwed anyways.

- Children who are not reading proficiently in third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school and seven out of every 10 prison inmates cannot read above a fourth grade level.

A couple weeks after I introduced the legislation, my father-in-law, Don, he stopped me before I left and he said, "I just want you to know "I'm really proud of you for introducing this legislation."

He proceeded to tell me that he could not read until he was in eighth grade.

And for him to admit something like that to me, it was just kind of took my breath away.

And nobody caught onto the fact that he couldn't read.

(gentle music) - So concerning the Third Grade Law, it was passed in an effort to improve reading achievement for all students, so that was the goal behind the Third Grade Law.

The first question is, one word to describe how you feel about the reading law.

- Challenging.

- Pressured.

- Anxious.

I - I chose pressure, because my little one was below reading level in first grade and I think at the time a lot of the materials that we have on now, I didn't necessarily see those the first few years.

- I feel when I talk to his teacher that they feel the pressure and they also had told me that we are really not ready for this.

- This piece of legislation, although it's intended to be a good thing, what it's spewing out is just pressure and anxiety amongst parents, educators and the child.

- [Ladonna] If I could respond to that.

- [Woman] Oh, yes.

- My word is probably gonna be surprising, but actually I'd say excited, because even though there are a lot of things that we're focusing on now about the being held back, there was so much effort put into the law and so many different things, in terms of training for teachers.

It really can help us in developing, reading achievement.

- I feel like a lot of people still think that it's the teacher's job, it's not their job.

But right now I don't think it's hitting home, because a lot of people think, the teachers are doing good jobs, or why are the teachers not doing a good job.

- I agree with you in some ways, I think that most parents think it's a teacher's job.

We've got to get beyond that point.

52% of our kids are not where they need to be.

You never quite know what the legislation is gonna do.

So the retention piece, I don't like.

- [Producer] Do you teachers feel pressured about the law?

- Ever since other policies and laws were put into place, like no child left behind, we have a lot more testing.

And I honestly do feel some of them are feeling the pressure from the increased number of tests that we are required to give.

- We always say that a parent is a child's first teacher.

It's a partnership between the parent, the child, the school, all of us are partners to make sure we're giving our children the best start possible for a future that we don't even have any idea what that's gonna hold for them.

- I don't want to see anybody left behind and stuck in third grade, or not passing, because of the law.

- The thing that people are really thinking about right now is the retention piece, because this is the first time Michigan has ever done anything like this.

With anything new come stress, because it's just the unknown.

At this point, we don't really know how many kids that's going to affect this year.

(gentle music) - [Mariam] Okay, so let me show you their desks.

So this is where Amelia sits.

- [Amelia] It's messy.

- It's a little messy, but it's supposed to be strictly school.

- Teachers are struggling to teach reading in a virtual context.

So, now you're adding pressure for teachers and for families.

- I was given the choice of working either from home, or in my classroom.

My husband has been doing a lot.

You know, he works full-time and he's been working from home since March 13th and hasn't stopped and he hasn't even taken a day off.

Like anytime he gets like a minute, he'll run down and check on the kids.

- In a public health crisis, this State Board of Ed should be saying forget this Third Grade Reading Law right now.

Families and educators are having to do enough to just get by.

(gentle music) - It's so difficult, I can't work.

I literally quit my job, because I can't.

I can't do all of that, it's ridiculous.

I can't make Misha stay at the screen.

I saw this little meme online, it was saying to think of all the things you have to do as balls and some of them are plastic and some of them are glass, and you just have to figure out which ones are glass and make sure not to break those.

I feel like everything is a glass ball.

I don't know which ones are the plastic ones and it'd be okay to drop, so yeah.

- It's just not sustainable, it's insane.

It's already difficult to just do virtual.

It's already a challenge to just be a regular classroom teacher.

- If you're trying to teach reading and math and your core subjects virtually, you're also having to contend with the skill set that the kids have for utilizing the platforms and even the devices in educative ways.

- First of all, Misha can't do it by himself, he can't read.

So that's the main thing, he can't do it by himself.

Even if he was to pay total attention to the teacher, he wouldn't be able to figure out what pages he needed to do.

You literally need an adult to help them.

I mean, it's just not gonna work that way.

- [Misha] What does it say?

- [Mariam] That.

- [Misha] That?

- I am really afraid that they're gonna try to hold my kids back, which frustrates me, because I know my kids are still learning.

- It's so important for parents to be involved and even like we're involved, but Henry still struggles with reading.

No, I don't think this is it, buddy.

(Henry moans) Well, let me help you since your teacher's not here.

Okay, let's work through it.

I think with Henry, reading requires patience and sitting down for a long time and letting yourself get immersed in something and I don't necessarily know that it does that for him quite yet.

Sometimes Henry sees reading as a chore.

Why did you like to read to mousey?

- I read to him, because he doesn't say anything, so he can't say, I'm horrible at reading, or you're like a robot.

- We already know that a year of academic learning is gonna be lost for a substantive number of kids.

Why would we further disadvantage them by saying, you're gonna be retained if you don't meet this benchmark in reading.

- As far as the the read by grade three and end of your assessments, those have not been waived yet.

So, we can just hope that our state representatives hear us and know that this is an impossible task.

(gentle music) (uplifting music) - Spring rain makes the ground wet.

- We can't wait till third grade, or second grade to intervene.

By the time you get to third grade, if you're a struggling reader, your motivation has completely gone.

- Okay, open it back up.

I did struggle with reading for a while.

I don't know if it was because I didn't read when I was younger, but I know when I did get to school eventually I did struggle with reading a lot, so I never wanted it to be a problem for my daughter.

- Why don't you read this book to me?

Michael is my kindergartner.

Michael is struggling, so reading to him more is important to get him to grasp what the words are actually saying and not just following the pictures.

- Come on, let's go.

I did not grow up in a household that was reading was like, we read books at the beginning when I was younger, but about four or five I say, we stopped reading books, so I think sometimes I was behind.

I just want my daughter to be able to read books, 'cause I wasn't able to as a child and be successful.

- We know that parents are the child's first teacher and the most important thing that parents can do for children is to foster a love of learning and a love of reading.

- Story.

- Is that your story?

My mom, she has always said, if there was one thing I could have done a little differently with you guys, she said that she would read to us more.

- I think there's a misconception that kids go to school to learn how to read.

But as we know there is a lot that happens before children even get to school that sets them on a path for future reading.

Parents can start reading to their kids as soon as they are born.

It really helps create a special bond.

90% of the brain is fully developed by the time children reach the age of five.

Look at this page.

So this is why it's so important for parents to interact with their kids and to have conversations and have that back and forth, to extend their thinking.

- Not the mud puppy, oh no!

From the second she was born, myself, my mom, my dad, her dad and everyone around her just kept reading.

- Animals should definitely not wear clothes.

I started reading to my children when they were babies.

Actually, no, I take that back, even when they were in the womb, just reading stories.

- We have this really wonderful time while children are babies all the way up through the time that they become school age, where we can start to develop pre-reading skills.

- I'm glad I knew.

Every day, we're reading something new that she loves.

It's fun and it's exciting.

- Sing out loud, sing high and low.

You should be great.

So reading, she recognizes some of her letters and words.

When we're reading a book, I always praise her, I think that's great at her age.

- Oink, oink.

- She loves the books.

I want to keep that momentum going.

And I want her to always enjoy school.

- [Lewis] I'm busy, I work a lot.

When they're bringing books to you, I think that's when you most definitely have to make time to read and maybe even find a book at night before you put them the bed.

- It's that all hands on deck approach.

In the elementary world, we talk about providing access to books and reading materials in all areas where people interact.

What we really need to do is work as a community to help all families, because it can't just be up to the parents to figure it out on their own.

So we can partner with community resources, like our public libraries.

- The Mobile Library operates in all of Ingham County.

We visit areas where we suspect it may be difficult for some of our members to get to one of our physical locations.

It's like bringing a mini library to their apartment complex, or to their rural stop.

The Mobile Library at Capital Area District Libraries is successful, because we know that families rely on us.

- What I think the community can do to encourage reading is reaching out to the different interests of the child.

Do you know what that is?

- T-Rex (growling).

- For instance, Michael loves dinosaurs, so he's gonna be more interested in reading something about dinosaurs than he is about, Susie goes to the market, you know?

- And there he is, fetching the ball.

For me, it's twofold for why I enjoy reading to my daughter.

It's that bonding and it is about setting her up for success.

Reading helps you to discover, helps you to explore.

I want her have that.

I want that to always be ingrained in her.

- [Heidi] It is beautiful to see as a parent and as a educator what books can do and the joy they can bring out in children.

(child babbling) - Every day is an opportunity to learn.

Years from now, I hope that she'll still be encouraged to pick up a book and read.

(child babbling) I hope that whatever studies that she chooses to pursue, she'll do it well and she'll do it with enthusiasm and excitement because she will be inspired to continue learning.

- [Misha] The end.

- [Bianca] The end.

(gentle music) - I attended a Detroit public school and basically within the school, the classroom was set up where it was close to being overpopulated in each class.

When I first realized that I was struggling with reading, I tested below my actual reading grade level, which was in the seventh grade.

I struggled a lot just to get through one sentence and yes it was embarrassing.

And it's embarrassing, because I'm in seventh grade and I'm having reading problems.

- I didn't even know I was struggling.

So, it really just made me think like, dang I've been struggling for this long.

I'll read a sentence and it's a big vocabulary word, like I never seen before.

I be afraid to get called on, it was just hard and difficult.

- Beyond Basics is a non-profit organization that was formed to help get kids reading at grade level.

- I felt like Beyond Basics really gave me that step I never had in my childhood.

- [Pamela] Illiteracy really is an epidemic that has reached pandemic proportions.

- Detroit public schools have a lower literacy rate than other surrounding communities and cities.

It does sadden me just because I am a product of Detroit.

When a community is what we would call as being vulnerable, it allows us to see the type of social inequities within the community.

And I think that's what the importance of a program like Beyond Basics is.

We help create that gateway for students to know that it's okay to work on their reading and it's not something that they should be embarrassed about.

I feel like that there is a divide in social class that contributes to parents not having time to work with their children, because they have to work, or certain other family situations that's going on, that's preventing the child from meeting the expectations of their day-to-day school activities.

(gentle music) - I think that across society, the one thing we failed at the most is bearing witness to the extreme suffering of people within our reach.

- [Kashon] We all get so trapped in our daily lives and forget how big problems affect the kids' lives.

- I believe that in order for a child to fully blossom into an adult, it takes a village.

- I hope kids who struggle with reading, especially with the new reading law, I hope that they overcome.

- The most shocking thing that people did not realize when we're talking about kids and literacy is that the educational model does not allow for kids who can't read to learn to read, regardless of how far they're behind.

- It almost brings me tears.

How are you going to send a kid back, for not learning how to read?

It should be, if they fail it, it should be someone trying to help them.

- I learned that progress is not pretty all the time.

Progress, it takes time and I've learned that within that it is a strength and it led me to wants to be able to read more.

- After my 11th grade year, I felt like I was gonna do great things.

They kept telling me my whole 12th grade year, "You're gonna be valedictorian."

I just got a key working hard, keeping that mindset.

- We have people who are far, far away, directing the day-to-day activities of teachers.

When you have somebody on the front lines, we need to listen to them and just say, what do you need?

Our educational model doesn't fund intensive, one-on-one literacy tutoring for kids who need it.

Our educational model does also not implement an assessment that lets you know exactly how far a child is behind.

So we do those two things.

We have a certified teacher implement an assessment.

Once you know where they need to start and you give them a tutor to work one-on-one, an hour a day, five days a week, they become readers.

(gentle music) - The old man's name is Willy.

I got two younger brothers and one just got into school, so I'm really trying to get him into reading early at a young age.

But I loved that little puppy, he needed me.

Reading to my little brothers, I think they love that.

(child babbling) - I decided to become a tutor, because I want to pay it forward.

I want to give back to the community that helped raise me and to be able to make a difference, especially to a community that even as a child I've seen struggle.

I believe that every child deserves the right to read.

- [Child] In the bag.

(gentle music) - How do I feel about the M-STEP proceeding?

It's disappointing, because the people who are making these decisions are not factoring in reality.

(gentle music) We've opted out, first and foremost, COVID still in play.

My kids haven't been in a school building all year and to send them in just to do a standardized test, something I do not believe in, it was just kind of a no-brainer for us to decline testing.

Henry doesn't love to read, because it's work for him and he considers it work because it's hard.

And that broke my heart a little bit and I wish I could shake him and say, but don't you get it?

The more you would read, the easier it would be for you.

How did I get a tutor for reading?

The school reached out to me.

They have a full-time para-pro, who is, she's a reading specialist.

So she spends one hour every Friday with Henry, which is the most time any adult, in our entire district, has spent with Henry.

I hope he finds a love for reading, because I think he's so smart and I think that reading is a key and a pathway to that.

- Misha started reading.

I was so excited for him, because it made him so happy.

I guess he just started, it started to connect to him.

I'm on the computer doing something and he's reading over my shoulder, I said, "How you know that word?"

He's like, "I can read."

And I'm just amazed.

I'm always like, "Yay!"

- Try, try, as best as you can.

You can't beat me, I'm the Gingerbread Man.

- That's a cool book.

I like it Mish.

(gentle music) - The Third Grade Reading Law is addressing a symptom and it's trying to solve it with something that is symptom relief.

It's drawn attention to this problem, which we need attention to this crisis, so that it gets our full attention and we start really solving it.

The solution right now is getting people to wake up to the crisis.

Solving this problem is really in the hands of people.

I say we're ready.

- Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

♪ Twinkle, twinkle, little star ♪ ♪ How I wonder what you are ♪ ♪ Up above the world so high ♪ - Like a diamond in the sky.

- Twinkle, twinkle, little- - Star.

♪ How I wonder what you are ♪ - Yay!

(clapping) Good job.

(bright music) (speaks foreign language) - Leave me alone, you silly pig, you're not so big.

- You're doing just fine, puppy, puppy, puppy.

- I can drive the bus.

- [Boy] I'm pretty sure that's a map, they're looking at a map.

- They are looking at a map.

- Then as the sun set on the tropical scene.

(Child singing) - A plus for creativity.

- Good job.

(child babbling) - Here.

- Thank you.

(woman laughing) (gentle music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program was provided by Capital Area United Way.

(bright music)