Michigan Students aren’t keeping up with the rest of the nation and haven’t been for decades

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Report after report is highlighting a disturbing trend in the state of Michigan; students are not being prepared to build lives for themselves that will allow them to escape generationally traumatic societal conditions. While the economy increasingly demands more advanced skills and knowledge, education continues to lag behind, and has become a disservice.

Education Trust-Midwest, and EPIC/MRA commissioned a public opinion survey of 600 Michigan parents (via phone) between February 19^th, 2019, and March 1^st, 2019. Parents reported that:

• Improving the quality of education ranked as the number one issue – well above their concerns about: roads, the economy or health care, according to a new telephone poll commissioned by the Education Trust-Midwest.
• Understand the importance of effective teachers and high-quality instruction
• 94% said having good teachers and instruction is important
• 77% said having good teachers and instruction it’s absolutely essential

There are many different reasons for why education, or the lack of good education has become an issue in Michigan. During my research, I noted another challenge that the state is having, and it surrounds educational neglect.

What is educational neglect?

There are three different reported types of educational neglect; they include:

• Parent or caregiver fails to enroll their child in school at all, and also fails to educate them at home. In some cases, parents may not be adequately home-schooling children
• Parent or caregiver enrolls their child in school, but fails to get them to school, causing at least five absent days a month
• Parents or schools fail to meet special education needs for a child with a diagnosed disability

Michigan law requires little oversight over home-schooled students, and parents don’t have to register their children with the state or their local school district, like they do in other states. State agencies will not investigate educational neglect claims unless they come with other claims of neglect or abuse.

Utilizing unprecedented partnerships with: business, education, labour, philanthropy, civic leaders, as well as parents, Launch Michigan is advocating for a high-quality, student-centred system–one that helps every student succeed: in school, in their careers, and in life. They speak to the fact that a strong, thriving public education system is the cornerstone of successful kids, prosperous communities, and a strong economy.

This empowered team consists of:

• Launch Michigan Co-Chair Jeff Donofrio, President and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan
• Launch Michigan co-Chaired Brian Calley, President and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan
• Paula Herbart, President of the Michigan Education Association,
• Punita Dani Thurman, Vice President of Program and Strategy for The Skillman Foundation

Launch Michigan Co-Chair Jeff Donofrio, president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, released the following statement on the new National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) state data and rankings recently released,

“While it’s clear that the COVID-19 pandemic set many Michigan students back, the bottom line is that Michigan students aren’t keeping up with the rest of the nation and haven’t been for decades.

The new NAEP data ranks Michigan fourth graders 43rd in the nation in reading and 36th in math.  Even more concerning is the increasing gap for low-income students compared to students who don’t come from low-income households, which widened dramatically this year.

Despite the work of dedicated educators and administrators, and many well-intentioned attempts at reform, our students are woefully behind. That’s why our business, education and philanthropic leaders came together to form Launch Michigan, to take on our toughest educational challenges. That includes collaborating on a framework of transformational change that addresses the interconnected areas needed for true system reform to make Michigan a top-performing state.

The impacts of these low rankings stretch beyond the walls of the classroom. States with the highest rates of education attainment have the highest quality of life and the largest incomes.”

In alignment with its framework released in June, Launch Michigan achieved several wins as part of the bipartisan 2023 budget, one being equity funding for the nearly one million students in the state who face special challenges, due to their need for special education, or because they come from families with low incomes.

Launch Michigan has also successfully advocated for funding to entice more professionals into teaching, as well as the creation of an incentive fund to help districts make operational changes and improve efficiencies to drive more dollars to the classrooms and to students.

Co-Chair Jeff Donofrio emphasizes, “If we don’t act now to transform public education, we face long-lasting consequences for Michigan’s economic future.”