Literacy is essential to giving children access to all other academic skills and subject areas.  Experts agree that literacy instruction must begin in the earliest grades and continue through middle and high school.  Students must not only develop the skill of decoding letters and words, but must also develop the ability to comprehend, compose, and synthesize knowledge.

This case, filed in Detroit by Public Counsel and Sidley Austin LLP on behalf of seven students from five different schools, demands that the State of Michigan ensure that Detroit students receive evidence-based literacy instruction at the elementary and secondary level, along with the material conditions necessary to support learning and teaching (a stable, supported, and trained teaching force; grade- and age-appropriate books and instructional materials; and safe school conditions).  The lawsuit claims that the State has shown deliberate indifference to the rights and needs of the children of Detroit, mostly students of color, by requiring them to attend school yet depriving them of access to the most fundamental educational building block: literacy.

THE COMPLAINT

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

PLAINTIFFS’ OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

THE CITY OF DETROIT’S AMICUS BRIEF OPPOSING MOTION TO DISMISS

AFT’S AMICUS BRIEF OPPOSING MOTION TO DIMISS

MICHIGAN EDUCATION LAW AND POLICY PROFESSORS’ AMICUS BRIEF OPPOSING MOTION TO DIMISSS

482FORWARD’S AMICUS BRIEF OPPOSING MOTION TO DISMISS

KAPPA DELTA PI’S AMICUS BRIEF OPPOSING MOTION TO DISMISS

TRANSCRIPT OF 8.10.17 MOTION TO DISMISS ORAL ARGUMENT

APPELLANTS’ OPENING BRIEF

482FORWARD 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

ACLU OF MICHIGAN 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

AFT 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

CITY OF DETROIT 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

DEAN ELIZABETH MOJE ET AL 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

DPSCD 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

ECONOMISTS AND PROFESSORS 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

ED TRUST 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

EDUCATION EXPERTS AND ADVOCATES 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

PEN AMERICA 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

PROFESSOR BARRY FRIEDMAN AND SARA SOLOW 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

PROFESSOR KRISTI BOWMAN et al 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

PROFESSOR MARTHA MINOW 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

PROFESSOR MICHAEL REBELL 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

PULSE INSTITUTE 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF

SIGNATORIES TO MOJE BRIEF

MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL DANA NESSEL AMICUS BRIEF

APPELLANTS’ REPLY BRIEF

PAMELA  PUGH AMICUS BRIEF 

SIXTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS RULING – 4.23.2020