KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- Kalamazoo middle school students who need help are getting it through district efforts to double down on reading and math.  A realignment of the day seven periods to six each day permits them to give students the extra time and attention they need to catch up with their classmates on reading and math skills.

Assistant Superintendent Barbara Witzak says of the more than seven-hundred students who entered the Strategic Reading Program in its first year, 218 managed to graduate and 318 have made significant progress.  Kalamazoo Public Schools Board Trustees were given a briefing this week on the program aimed at making more children college ready to become Promise Scholars.