Dean Moje speaks with 89.7 WUWM - Milwaukee's NPR about efforts to improve reading scores

In a concerted effort to improve low literacy rates, Milwaukee Public Schools leaders have launched a district-wide literacy plan and selected a teacher training program—LETRS—which has been used across the country, reports Katherine Kokal for 89.7 WUWM - Milwaukee's NPR. For her series Turning the Page: Teaching Milwaukee to Read, Kokal spoke with local school leaders and literacy experts, including Dean Elizabeth Birr Moje.

Despite the turn-around success reported by schools in Mississippi after the state adopted the LETRS teacher training program, Moje cautions against relying on just one program to teach children to read and to adequately prepare them for state testing.

“We need to do so much more to better understand why children are not able to address the test questions with proficiency and not rush to a particular program," Moje tells WUWM.

“LETRS and all the other programs are not going to solve the problem for every child," she adds. "For one thing, LETRS does not actually have any child-facing work. It's all about teacher development. Today, the link between what teachers have learned through something like LETRS and child outcomes is not well established."

Dean Moje emphasizes that the earlier literacy education starts, the more likely students are to pick it up.

"The best time to teach a child to read is actually at birth, or before, because language is absolutely crucial to learning to read. The more we engage with children in rich conversation, using a lot of words, using them pointedly, and showing them words and alphabet letters—it's about engaging children in both oral and written discourse," says Moje.

Listen to her full conversation with Kokal on WUWM's Lake Effect.