THE PROBLEM: Too many Wisconsin children struggle to read, creating an educational, moral, and workforce crisis. The problem is getting worse:
> Roughly two out of every three fourth graders in Wisconsin are not proficient in reading.
> Wisconsin ranks last in the country for reading proficiency for black students.
> Since 1992, Wisconsin is one of only six states to see a significant drop in reading test scores.
POLICY SOLUTION: Assembly Bill 446 (Senate Bill 454), led by Senator Kathleen Bernier and Representative Joel Kitchens, creates a new “Roadmap to Reading Success” for Wisconsin’s children at public schools. The bill overhauls Wisconsin’s childhood literacy policies by: strengthening existing screening requirements, empowering parents with more information on their children’s reading progress, requiring schools to intervene with struggling students, and making more data public so policymakers can track schools’ successes – or failures.