MILWAUKEE — For years, Milwaukee has struggled with low reading scores that consistently trail state and national averages. Now, a coalition of leaders is coming together to form a citywide plan to tackle those challenges through unprecedented collaboration and financial incentives for educators.
The Milwaukee Reading Coalition brought together educators, advocates and civic leaders at Mount Mary University to launch a first-of-its-kind partnership that cuts across public, private and charter schools, all focused on one mission: improving literacy and supporting teachers.
"We have a significant challenge. It's not easy to teach teachers to teach kids to read," said Maya Smart, author and literacy advocate.
The coalition's ambitious plan includes raising both public and private funding to finance professional development for teachers and principals across all school systems.
"We want to raise both public money and private money to finance, support, and pay for professional development for teachers and principals in schools," said Dr. Howard Fuller of Howard Fuller Academy.
The coalition plans to offer substantial financial incentives to participating educators, recognizing the difficult challenges they face in addressing Milwaukee's literacy crisis.
"We want to give each person who goes through the training $1,500," Fuller said.
The incentive comes as Milwaukee faces stark literacy statistics. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 9% of Milwaukee 4th-graders and 14% of 8th-graders are achieving reading scores at or above the proficient level. Advocates say many students never catch up from these early deficits.
"Many teachers leave teacher training without the knowledge or experience to really help kids learn how to read," Smart said.
The coalition's formation comes at a critical time, as new state legislation requires different approaches to reading instruction.
"It's always been important, but what we now have is a state law that says we have to do reading differently. This state law gives us an opportunity to actually make a difference, but it remains to be seen if we can do it," Fuller said.
Smart emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts in addressing the challenge.
"The more brains we have focused on getting more kids reading, the better," Smart said.
Organizers acknowledge that success will require more than talk — it will take sustained collaboration and long-term investments. By uniting schools, nonprofits and families, the coalition believes Milwaukee can finally turn the page on one of its toughest challenges.
"We have a lot of momentum in Milwaukee, and it's important we do because we have a great, great need," Smart said.
Fuller expressed cautious optimism about the initiative's potential impact.
"I feel hopeful, but as you all know, there's hope and there's actually doing something. We gotta see if this hope will lead to real actions," Fuller said.
The coalition represents an unprecedented effort to address Milwaukee's literacy challenges through coordinated action across all educational sectors in the city.
Smart's book, "Reading for Our Lives," can be found at www.mayasmart.com.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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