MichiganReads AI

AI-powered reading tutor for Michigan K–8 students

Built in 48 hours at HackMichigan 2026 · TechTown Detroit

🚀 Live Demo · 📖 Docs · 🎥 Demo Video https://canva.link/3cv2uxo1ifp4nnl

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The Problem

Nearly two-thirds of Michigan third graders are not reading at grade level. Teachers can't give every student individualized feedback. Private tutors are out of reach for most families. Existing edtech tools present content — but never listen.

MichiganReads AI listens.

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What It Does

Students open the app, pick a book, and read aloud. The app scores every word in real time and connects them to Bookworm — an AI tutor that knows exactly where they struggled and coaches them personally.

🎓 For Students Read passages & illustrated books aloud Word-level pronunciation scoring Highlighted problem words (< 75% accuracy) Comprehension questions after each session Progress charts & reading streak tracker Bookworm AI tutor — voice or text Bilingual: English & Spanish

👩‍🏫 For Teachers Create classes with join codes Assign books with due dates Live activity feed — see who's reading now Analytics: score trends, difficult words Student drill-downs with full history AI-generated weekly progress summaries

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
🎤 Speech Recognition	Microsoft Azure Speech Services
🤖 AI Tutor	IBM watsonx Granite 4
🔊 Text-to-Speech	Google Cloud TTS
📝 Summaries	Groq — Llama 3.1
🗄️ Database & Auth	Supabase (PostgreSQL)
⚙️ Backend	Python 3.10+ / Flask
🌐 Frontend	HTML5 · CSS3 · Vanilla JS
📊 Charts	Chart.js

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Michigan Library

The built-in passage library is written for Michigan students — not generic content.

Grade	Title	Topic
3	Eastern Market: The Heart of Detroit	Detroit History
3	The Sleeping Bear Dunes	Michigan Nature
3	The Gray Wolf Returns to Michigan	Animals
4	Michigan's Greatest Treasure	Great Lakes
4	How Detroit Built the American Dream	Michigan Industry
5	Detroit and the Road to Freedom	Civil Rights
6	Dearborn: Michigan's Arab American Capital	Community
7	Motown: The Sound That Changed America	Michigan History

Plus 9 illustrated books for grades 1–4 (Peter Rabbit, Goldilocks, Three Little Pigs, and more).

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Project Structure

FourG/
├── readingai/
│   ├── frontend/          # Single-page web app
│   │   ├── index.html
│   │   ├── css/styles.css
│   │   └── js/            # app, auth, teacher, bookworm, library...
│   └── bookworm/          # Python Flask backend (TTS proxy)
│       ├── app.py
│       └── requirements.txt
├── supabase/              # Edge Functions + local dev config
│   └── functions/
│       ├── get-ibm-token/
│       ├── ibm-chat/
│       └── fetch-gutenberg/
└── docs/                  # Marketing landing page

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Setup

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• A Supabase project
• API keys: Azure Speech · Google Cloud TTS · IBM watsonx · Groq

1. Backend

cd readingai/bookworm
python3 -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env
python app.py            # → http://localhost:5000

2. Frontend

cd readingai/frontend
python3 -m http.server 8000   # → http://localhost:8000

Add your API keys to readingai/frontend/config.js — never commit this file.

3. Supabase (optional local dev)

supabase start    # Postgres + Studio on local ports
supabase stop

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API Reference

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/health	Health check
POST	/api/tts/synthesize	Synthesize speech
POST	/api/tts/synthesize-slow	0.5× speed for word practice
GET	/api/tts/voices	List available voices

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Privacy & Compliance

Designed to comply with COPPA, FERPA, and the Michigan Student Data Privacy Act. No student data is sold or shared with third parties. Bilingual (English/Spanish) to serve all Michigan families.

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Contributing

git checkout -b feature/your-feature
# make changes
git push origin feature/your-feature
# open a pull request → main

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Built with ❤️ in Detroit · HackMichigan 2026 · COMPASS Detroit