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.
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
482FORWARD 6th CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF
ACLU OF MICHIGAN 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