Strategic Initiative Fund (SIF)

The Michigan Literacy Leaders Partnership

This initiative addresses the literacy crisis affecting Michigan children and advances transformational change in reading instruction across the state and beyond. The Michigan Literacy Leaders Partnership aims to create lasting improvements in reading outcomes in Michigan and positions the University of Michigan as a leader in life-changing education today and in the future. It will support reading achievement statewide by bringing evidence-based instruction directly to students while simultaneously building teachers' capacity to deliver research-aligned reading instruction — the full science of reading.

The partnership will develop and launch a Detroit summer reading program, offer professional learning opportunities for teachers before and during the summer, and study the implementation of both components with the goals of improvement and impact, directly supporting children in learning to read while building the next generation of expert teachers.

Expected student literacy outcomes include mitigating summer learning loss and improving students' reading achievement and attitudes across the subsequent academic year, measured through immediate and delayed reading assessments and surveys of student reading motivation and habits. Teacher professional-learning outcomes include improvements in teachers' knowledge of the science of reading. The partnership will also produce a model for integrated summer reading and professional learning that can be replicated at other institutions, sharing findings through research journals and policy reports.