91% of MPS students can't read at grade level. What will it take to fix that? episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 8, 2026 · 11 MIN

91% of MPS students can't read at grade level. What will it take to fix that?

from Lake Effect Spotlight · host WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR

91% of students in Milwaukee Public Schools cannot read at grade level. But a new literacy plan by the school district promises to change how students learn to read. The plan comes in response to new state legislation, called Act 20, that requires districts to use science-based reading instruction.  WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal is looking into literacy in her series called Turning the Page: Teaching Milwaukee to Read. She talked with Ana Gabriela Bell Jiménez, the Academic Superintendent for Literacy at MPS, and Jennifer Mims-Howell, the district’s Chief Academic Officer. 

91% of students in Milwaukee Public Schools cannot read at grade level. But a new literacy plan by the school district promises to change how students learn to read. The plan comes in response to new state legislation, called Act 20, that requires districts to use science-based reading instruction.   WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal is looking into literacy in her series called Turning the Page: Teaching Milwaukee to Read. She talked with Ana Gabriela Bell Jiménez, the Academic Superintendent for Literacy at MPS, and Jennifer Mims-Howell, the district’s Chief Academic Officer.

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91% of MPS students can't read at grade level. What will it take to fix that?

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91% of students in Milwaukee Public Schools cannot read at grade level. But a new literacy plan by the school district promises to change how students learn to read. The plan comes in response to new state legislation, called Act 20, that requires...

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