KENT COUNTY, Mich. — All of the libraries in Kent County are teaming up with hopes to improve children’s reading scores, after more than half of third graders students failed to pass the reading proficiency exam.
The Kent Immediate School District has teamed up with the Literacy Center of West Michigan to encourage students to read at one of six Kent County libraries for the new initiative, called Mission: Read.
The goal is to get students to read 1,000 books before 6th grade.
“There’s an urgent need to help these kids,” explains Mark Raffler, English language arts consultant at Kent Intermediate School District. “When kids love to read, everything else in school comes more easily and with greater effectiveness. The results of good reading habits carry throughout their schooling and into adult life.”
The program will also help students with low-reading assessment scores.
Starting next year, students who are at least one grade level behind in reading by the end of third grade will be held back.
Full list of libraries participating
