Suing because it’s not happening

The Detroit Free Press reports the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the state on behalf of students who are reading way below grade level. The Michigan ACLU claims the law says either kids must be reading at grade level or receive extra help to learn to read.

There are claims that this is the first-ever lawsuit in this country concerning an alleged basic right to learn to read. In the Michigan ACLU’s own web site, they say:

“This is a first-of-its-kind lawsuit asserting a child’s fundamental right to read.”

As a note, in 2011 the statewide grade 8 reading proficiency rate on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was 32 percent in Michigan and scarcely better at 36 percent in Kentucky. Furthermore, Michigan excluded a lot fewer of its learning disabled students than Kentucky did on this assessment, so the real proficiency rate difference is even smaller than the reported scores indicate.

If the basic premise of the Michigan suit holds up – that being able to read is a student right – then watch for this liberal group to go on the warpath in other states because the NAEP shows reading is problematic across the country.