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Congressional candidate Elliott claims majority of 3rd graders in Detroit public schools are illiterate

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Published  October 13, 2022 9:17pm EDT
2022 Midterm Elections
FOX 2 Detroit

Interview with 12th Congressional District candidate Steven Elliott

FOX 2 is highlighting candidates vying for votes in the 12th Congressional District this upcoming Election Day.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Steven Elliott, who is running to represent the 12 Congressional District of Michigan, made the claim that a majority of third-graders in the Detroit Public Schools Community District are illiterate, in an interview with FOX 2’s Hilary Golston.

The Businessman and former Marine is running against incumbent Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

Elliott spoke with Golston about a number of topics including the Supreme Court’s decision to vacate Roe Vs. Wade, the economy, infrastructure, the CHIPS and Science Act, poverty and education.

Golston asked Elliott to clarify how he would see oversight and accountability applied in public schools in Detroit.

"It’s not a checks and balances system. It’s not an oversight system. It’s an accountability system. Why is it that a majority of third-graders in the Detroit Public School System are illiterate?"

Golston: "That is not true. That is completely false."

Mr. Elliott’s team provided two articles, none of which provide primary source information that corroborates the candidate’s claims exactly.

However, an article sent to FOX 2 from Chalkbeat Detroit does address declining pandemic reading-level achievement more broadly among third-grade students. The article does not cite data that correlates directly to "illiteracy," but rather to below-grade level performance.

DPSCD’s Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti released the following statement:

"Calling 3rd graders illiterate speaks to why Mr. Elliot will not be elected to represent Detroit or its surrounding areas. Does Mr. Elliot also call the 60% of Michigan 3rd graders who are below grade level as defined by a standardized test "illiterate" or only Detroit public school children? DPSCD has demonstrated improvement in literacy scores and showed less learning loss in literacy than the state and Detroit charter schools. With that said, we still have work to do in improving literacy test scores but we are confident that we will return to demonstrating literacy improvement at the end of this school year as we did before the pandemic."

You can see more of Golston’s interview with Elliott HERE:

Steven Elliott claims majority of Detroit 3rd graders illiterate

Michigan’s 12th Congressional District candidate claimed that a majority of third-graders in the Detroit Public Schools Community District are illiterate. He also discussed other topics ahead of the election in an interview with FOX 2’s Hilary Golston.