Lansing – The Michigan Department of Education’s Reading First coordinator, Faith Stevens, will participate in a national panel discussion hosted by President George W. Bush at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 12, in Washington, D.C.
Stevens will highlight the great work Michigan’s Reading First program has done as the President focuses on the importance of childhood literacy and getting children prepared to succeed in school.
“This is an incredible opportunity to highlight the great things being done in Michigan to help children learn to read,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Watkins. “Faith has worked hard to get this program revved up in our schools. We all see the great benefits it will provide.”
The event will be before some 500 educators and representatives of the news media from around the country. She will share the dais with a university researcher, a director at the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, and two elementary school teachers.
Stevens, of East Lansing, has been a consultant with the Michigan Department of Education for three years. She previously taught English and was an elementary instructional coordinator at Haslett Public Schools.
Reading First is a national grades K-3 literacy grant program in its second year. Michigan's program is among the leaders in the nation distributing grants to local school districts to implement programs aimed at having all students read at grade level by the 3rd grade.
“This is an important program to help each child be successful in school and then later in life,” Stevens said. “In America, we want everyone to have an opportunity to be successful and Reading First is an ambitious initiative to get us there.”
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