Here’s how teachers and parents can collaborate and help Michigan’s 1.4M students succeed

About 1.4 million Michigan students returned to public school this fall, with only 39% of third graders scoring proficient or advanced in English language arts and both fourth and eighth graders scoring below national reading averages. A longtime literacy and family-engagement researcher argues one underused lever is treating parents as co-educators rather than occasional volunteers, citing her Parents as Partners in Reading program developed with African American families in Louisiana.

The piece describes common friction points, families feeling judged or excluded, communication flowing only from school to home, teachers giving vague instructions like 'read to your child' without modeling what that looks like, and offers practical fixes like proactive phone calls, classroom invitations, and parents introducing themselves to teachers early in the year.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.