As a proud MPS graduate, it’s been hard to watch the well-documented problems with reading and truancy unfold over time.
Milwaukee Public Schools has the largest reading achievement gaps between Black and White students in the country, with only 9% of fourth-graders proficient in reading as of 2024. That means roughly 73% of students score “below basic” in reading. The district also struggles with chronic absenteeism, as half of its students miss at least 10% of school days.
This combination has created a scenario Superintendent Brenda Cassellius rightfully calls “unacceptable.”
One of the ways MPS hopes to improve is through a new literacy program based on “Science of Reading” standards that have helped states like Mississippi jump from worst to the top in scores. Yet a new curriculum alone won’t be enough to help students become better readers, especially if they aren’t in school to learn.
Imagine if Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee Public Library and community partners collaborated to create incentives to get more kids to attend school? What if we could get students to use the library, stay out of trouble and have more reasons to attend school?
Much of the groundwork is already in place to make this happen. What’s missing is the community partners to help provide the incentives. We all need to step up to make this happen.
Detroit schools pay students for attendance
Rewarding students for good attendance is not a new idea.. In Detroit, high school students can earn $200 gift cards for perfect attendance during set blocks of time during the school year when most absences typically occur, with the opportunity to get paid up to $1,000.
The goal is to engage students positively to address issues such as skipping class, bad behavior, disruptions, or takeovers. In Detroit, pay is paired with efforts to help students find safe routes to school and overcome other obstacles that keep them from learning.
Some might find paying students distasteful but it seems to be working. According to Chalkbeat Detroit, average daily attendance for high schoolers increased by 2.6% last year while chronic absenteeism dropped 7.4%.
Cassellius said she wanted to enact an incentive program while leading Boston schools, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She thinks it would be a big help in Milwaukee.
“We need someone to champion this and make it happen, especially if we can tie it to (school) attendance,” Cassellius said.
Milwaukee has building blocks for incentive program
Before she met with Journal Sentinel Editorial Board April 15 for an interview, I had a brief conversation with Cassellius about a unique library program underway in Chicago and how a similar approach in Milwaukee could work.
On April 7, Chicago Public Schools announced that all student identification cards would now serve as library cards, giving students access to all 81 library locations in the city. The 81 Club program aims to eliminate barriers to accessing the library system’s collection of 6 million items, as well as its online databases and free academic support to help address any reading challenges students may face.
The good news is that MPS already offers a similar program, LibraryNow, which launched in 2017. It provides all 66,000 students in the district with access to online tutoring, book and music downloads, magazines, games, research databases, and more, using their MPS student ID number.
This approach helps address the problem of “book deserts,” where 61% of families lack age-appropriate books at home. Low-income children are especially affected, with only 1 book available for every 300 children, compared with 13 books per child in middle-income households.
But imagine if we could improve the program by linking library cards to incentives for students, such as free tickets to concerts or Bucks and Brewers games, or even discounts at restaurants.
Cassellius proposed a reward system with four levels: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. For example, a student who attends school 80% of the time could earn a bronze award, which might include a burrito bowl from Qdoba or a gift card for food or clothing.
A 90% attendance rate could get you tickets to a concert at Summerfest. If a student has perfect attendance, or platinum status, they may receive two tickets to a Bucks or Brewers game. There are a lot of ways this could work if partners would step forward. Detroit uses public dollars, in Milwaukee that isn’t on the table with budget deficits.
If we get Milwaukee students back on track, we all win
“We can do multiple things to support our children for being good community citizens and keeping them engaged and making them feel like Milwaukee is there home, I just need some champions who can do it and bring these resources together for our kiddos,” Cassellius said.
Cassellius wanted someone to champion this idea, so I agreed to act as a connector.
Now, here’s the challenge: I need to identify community groups and organizations willing to collaborate with MPS and the library to offer incentives. We need to reward children who not only attend school regularly but also demonstrate significant improvement in their behavior. Getting them to utilize the spaces and resources offered by public libraries could play a big role in boosting reading and staying out of trouble.
This program shouldn’t focus only on the straight-A student who attends school every day and captains the baseball team. While they deserve recognition, we also need to support students who may have missed school for valid reasons, such as caring for a younger sibling who isn’t yet school-aged or dealing with homelessness.
If we can help these students get back on track, they should be rewarded. If they get back on track, we all win.
If you are interested in offering a service to support MPS students, feel free to reach out to me by email (jcausey@jrn.com) and I will connect you with the superintendent’s team. I will also share ideas and updates in future columns.
No award is too small, and with 66,000 students, there’s room for those who want to come to the table to offer their support.
This sounds like a plan that, if we commit fully, can change things for the better. We need to step up if students show up.
Reach James E. Causey at jcausey@jrn.com; follow him on X @jecausey.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MPS has abysmal reading scores and truancy. Here’s a remedy | Opinion
Reporting by James E. Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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