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56% of Michigan Teachers Are Thinking About Leaving in Five Years, Poll Says

Lori Higgins — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

Most Michigan teachers feel deeply dedicated to their profession, but a quarter of them are considering leaving the profession within a year, and 56% might leave within five years.

Those are the results of a new poll released Tuesday. It was commissioned by Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative, an organization focused on addressing the state’s teacher pipeline challenges.

If the poll results bear out, they could destabilize the profession and worsen the teacher shortages that already affect many districts, particularly in hard-to-staff areas such as special education.

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The results come as teachers face increasing pressure. Students are performing poorly on state and national exams as Michigan continues to slide lower in national academic rankings. Lawmakers are enacting new mandates for teacher training in methods that use the science of reading.

Respondents cited inadequate compensation, not enough training for new teachers, and barriers to classroom innovation as reasons they are considering leaving.

“If we want our state to move out of this perpetual threat of losing half of our teacher workforce over the next five years, we should listen to our teachers,” Jack Elsey, CEO and founder of the Workforce Initiative, said during a media roundtable Tuesday. “They’re telling us what they need.”

The poll was conducted from May 29 to June 30, surveyed a representative sample of 300 teachers, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.7 percentage points. It was conducted by Impact Research, with help from UpONE Insights, another polling company.

“The data confirms what we see in classrooms every day, as teachers are pouring their hearts into this work, but love for the job does not alleviate the challenging workload and financial pressures we face,” CJ Walker, a teacher at Concord Community Schools, said in a news release about the poll results. “If we want to reverse this retention crisis, we must value our teachers both via compensation and support.”

Michigan has an aging educator workforce, but teachers of all ages are considering exiting the profession according to Brian Stryker, managing partner at Impact Research.

“That is also true of newer teachers, teachers in the middle of their career. You also see it across elementary, middle, and high school,” Stryker said.

Compensation was one of the biggest factors. The problem is more acute among newer teachers, because the longer someone has been teaching, the more fairly compensated they feel, Stryker said. Fixing it is challenging, as decisions about pay are decided at the local level.

“We think the poll tells a powerful story that we have made progress over the last few years in improving the workforce’s experience, but they’re also telling us that we have a ways to go,” Elsey said.

Here are some additional findings:

46% of the teachers strongly agreed with the statement that “I frequently feel I am expected to be ‘all things to all people at all times’ in my current role.
54% strongly agreed with the statement that “my school is a great place to be a teacher.”
48% strongly agreed with the statement that “Michigan is a great place to be a teacher.”
32% strongly agreed with the statement that “I feel fairly compensated for my work as a teacher.”
39% strongly agreed with the statement that “I have access to rigorous, standards-aligned curriculum and instructional materials for the subject areas and grades I teach.”

This story was originally published by , a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

With a State Cellphone Ban in Place, Michigan Schools Choose a Range of Options

Martin Slagter — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:30:00 +0000

Put it in your locker. Store it in a pouch. Keep it in your backpack. Hand it over to the principal. Leave it at home.

With the state of Michigan enacting a that restricts students from using their phones during instructional time, lawmakers have left it up to school districts to create their own policies on how to enforce this ban.

A team of University of Michigan researchers parsed through and compiled nearly 800 schools across the state, some of them already in place, to examine the different approaches they are taking to enforce this statewide ban. While many schools have enacted their own approaches to limiting cellphone use in recent years, the data reveals that schools believe there are a number of different ways to keep students off their phones after the bell rings.

In fact, U-M’s research collected on policies enacted as of the 2025-26 school year reveal an even 50-50 split on when these bans are put in place. Half of the state’s schools have implemented “bell-to-bell” restrictions that don’t allow students to use their phones at any point during the day, while the other half have “schedule-based” restrictions that allow them to use their phones at designated times, including during lunch and between class periods.

U-M Education Policy Professor Brian Jacob said the research is intended to provide guidance on the trade-offs of different approaches as the state law goes into place this fall.

“We want to make sure state leaders and district leaders were cognizant of this as they were imposing mandates on their individual schools because I have a feeling restricting cellphone use in schools is going to be a nuanced, challenging, multi-year process,” Jacob said. “This is one big genie that is out of the bottle, and figuring out the best way to get it back in the bottle and stay in the bottle, I think, is going to take a little practice and iteration on the part of schools.”

Two years ago, Novi Community School District took a nuanced approach to putting its cellphone restrictions in place.

In grades K-4, students aren’t allowed to have them in the building. In fifth through eighth grades, students can bring their phones to school, but they are locked up in at the beginning of the day and kept there until school lets out. Phones are placed in pouches by staff and sealed shut, with a designated magnetic device used to unlock them when appropriate. While high school students also are issued their own pouches, the phones are locked up during instructional time, with students being able to unlock and access them between classes and during lunch.

Superintendent Ben Mainka said the different approaches are intended to give high school students more autonomy that mirrors how they might experience using a cellphone in the workplace.

“As students go through school, they’re learning and they’re maturing, and so we know that as they grow and mature, we want to be able to open up more freedom and responsibilities,” he said. “The other part is, as they get to high school, we’re really helping them understand what it is like in a workplace, and we know that they’re going to have their phones on them, but they also need to know how to manage that. So, basically, giving them the autonomy to know that there are certain times that the phone needs to be off limits and put away, and then there are times when you can check it.”

U-M’s research found that just 2% of schools in the state have taken this approach. The most common type of enforcement of cellphone restriction is described as “no-show,” with 62% of schools requiring students to keep their phones in their backpacks or pockets.

Another 17% of schools allow students to bring cellphones to school, but keep them in their lockers throughout the day, while 9% of schools collect students’ phones and keep them in a designated place. Some schools (8%) have taken the approach of keeping cellphones out of schools completely, while another 3% have a centralized collection of phones with an administrator when they enter the building.

The research also showed that the type of school and its location impacted the type of policy the school enacted, with charter (79%) and urban schools (76%) substantially more likely to require bell-to-bell policies than suburban (49%) and rural (41%).

Jacob said charters and urban schools might be more attracted to having complete control over when students can have access to their phones with options like centralized collection or lockable pouches, he said, because they might believe phones are more “problematic” in schools than suburban or rural schools do.

“Now, whether they actually are, I think many suburban schools might be fooling themselves by thinking, ‘Oh, the phones aren’t really much of a problem,’” Jacob said. “But I think there’s a perception in urban school districts where there might be more chaos and more distraction that there’s something attractive about these more restrictive policies.”

While Pellston Public Schools in Northern Michigan only enrolls around 500 students, the district has taken a more restrictive approach to enforcing its cellphone policy, which was enacted at the suggestion of middle and high school Principal Chris Schlappi in 2024.

Superintendent Stephen Seelye had initial concerns that Schlappi’s suggestion to have students lock their cellphones in Yondr pouches would be met with opposition from parents who were concerned about being able to contact their children in the event of an emergency.

With several other avenues for students to contact their parents, Seelye said it made sense for the school to spend $15,000 to purchase the pouches for students in grades 6 to 12, with a complete cellphone ban in place at the elementary level.

Students aren’t able to access their cellphones throughout the day after locking them in their pouches and leaving them with their home room teacher; Seelye said enforcement of the policy has gone better than he ever could have expected.

“I really think it’s one of the best decisions, if not the best decision I’ve made in education,” Seelye said.

Rather than relying on teachers to keep an eye on whether students are taking phones out of their backpacks or pockets as “no show” policies do, locking cellphones into pouches has greatly reduced the burden on teachers to enforce the ban, he said, with the occasional “bad actors” quickly being discovered.

“Teachers have got a lot of things to juggle and they’ve been given their time back,” he said. “They no longer have to worry about if (a) kid has their cellphone and is seeking it. I would say I probably have 5% of my kids on a daily basis that are trying to hide their cellphones, and we catch most of them.

“Before, when every kid had a cellphone and there were seven of them out in class and one might buzz or beep, it was hard for my teachers to figure out where that came from, but now it’s not hard. Now everybody else has their phone locked up, and you know they can pinpoint who it was.”

U-M’s research lays out three considerations for districts still working through enacting policies: Phone policies present difficult trade-offs for educators and policymakers; establishing and communicating a clear cellphone policy likely enhances adherence; and unintended consequences may occur in classrooms and broader school settings.

While no-show policies remain popular among Michigan schools, Jacob said teachers told him that the most effective approaches take them out of the role of being the “bad guy.”

“I think there’s a lot of pressure among teachers in that regard,” he said. “Teachers that I’ve talked to really do like school-wide policies where some of the burden of enforcement is taken off of their shoulders.”

Nearly 53,000 Apply for Michigan’s Free Pre-K Program As Enrollment Grows

Ben Solis — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 16:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

Michigan’s initiative to offer free pre-kindergarten for all is paying off, state educators said Wednesday, as the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential, also known as MiLEAP, touted nearly 53,000 applications on file since June.

Emily Laidlaw, MiLEAP’s deputy director, said during a virtual news conference that the figure had grown by 700 applications in one month and by 16% compared with the same time last year, when applications totaled more than 45,000 children.

“Our children’s futures are the most important thing we can invest in, and we’re proud of our statewide efforts to get more students enrolled in high-quality pre-K programs,” Laidlaw told reporters Wednesday on a Zoom webinar to announce the Great Start Readiness program’s progress. “In May, we saw over 55,000 children enrolled for the 2025-26 school year, which was an all-time high for pre-K for all. This initiative is being embraced by families across the state because it provides a high-quality early education opportunity at no cost.”

Laidlaw added that with just one child enrolled in the program, families could save $14,000 a year on childcare costs. Those savings were crucial for families navigating high costs of living and a stagnating economy.

The is Michigan’s solution toward getting more kids in classrooms as early as possible, offering free pre-K programs for eligible four-year-olds across the state. It is ranked nationally as a premier pre-K program, offering math, reading and thinking skills training with a mix of play and hands-on activities.

Enrollment priority is given to families at or below 400% of the federal poverty limit, or approximately $128,000 for a family of four.

Laidlaw said that the program is open to all Michiganders, not just low- and middle-income families.

Synthia Britton, MiLEAP’s interim deputy director of early education, said that children who start ahead, stay ahead.

“Pre-K for All is improving hundreds of thousands of lives, which is why we must get the word out about these programs,” Britton said. “As we achieve record-breaking enrollment and applications, we know our efforts are paying off. There are more families across the state that can benefit from Pre-K for All who have not yet enrolled, so we must continue to spread the word about this amazing opportunity.”

Families can learn more about the programs by visiting the state’s Pre-K For All website, or by checking with their local intermediate school districts for enrollment timelines and deadlines.

JoAnne Elkin, an early childhood and early literacy consultant with the Macomb Intermediate School District, said her ISD has more than 4,500 children already enrolled for the upcoming 2026-27 academic year.

“We know from research that when children have a strong start and access to high-quality early learning, they are positioned to reach their full potential throughout their entire educational journey,” Elkin said. “High-quality pre-K promotes consistent attendance and positive school engagement, and it contributes to their success well beyond the early learning years.”

Elkin said that emerging research shows that by age 5, a child’s brain has developed to nearly 90% of adult size, making those early years so important to develop literacy and other key skills.

“Highlighting access to high-quality pre-K is so very important,” Elkin added. “It means that families can go to work knowing their child is in a safe, nurturing environment with caring adults who support their growth and development.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.

New Partnership Brings College and Career Resources to Detroit Neighborhoods

Martin Slagter — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 10:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

A new partnership in Detroit will provide middle schoolers through adult learners with access to resources designed to help residents enter and complete college, with hubs expected to open on the city’s east and west sides this fall.

Graduate 313, a partnership between the and , aims to expand educational opportunities for Detroiters in what organizers describe as a first-of-its-kind, neighborhood-based college and career success initiative backed by a $3.5 million investment.

After exhausting the model of supporting what most organizations refer to as a “college coach” that walks program participants through the college experience, the Jacob Family Foundation is supporting DCAN, which has worked to ensure equitable access to postsecondary education for Detroiters since 2012, as it launches Graduate 313.

The new model will deliver college and career resources directly within Detroit neighborhoods, Jacob Family Foundation Executive Director Megan Fenkell said, funding an initial three-year investment with additional help from partners including the General Motors Foundation and Rocket Community Fund.

“We wondered what would happen if there was a place in Detroit that students all the way from middle school to adult learners could go where they could get the support to get to and through college (or) return to college,” Fenkell said. “DCAN is the intermediary, and quite frankly, the leader in Detroit when it comes to all things college-going. So, it just seemed like the natural fit for us.”

Graduate 313 will launch this fall with a flagship office for Graduate 313 and DCAN programming on the city’s west side in a building located near the intersection of Plymouth and Evergreen roads.

On the east side of the city, Graduate 313 will occupy space in the former Winans Academy of Performing Arts building as an “impact partner” within Anchor Detroit, a community hub developed by Life Remodeled.

After a year of advising, the initiative is now fully-staffed and will begin offering services inside physical buildings. Services will include one-on-one-advising, emergency grants, wraparound services and college field trips that will either allow Graduate 313 to connect with a school, nonprofit or out-of-school time partner to take students to college campuses in the area or bring colleges to their physical locations.

Along with resources, DCAN Senior Director of Community Hubs Jasmine Brooks said Graduate 313 is modeled to provide locations that are accessible by walking, car or city bus routes based on “asset mapping” that determined locations that would be most beneficial to Detroiters.

“As a native Detroiter, you don’t necessarily operate in silos, but residents that live on the west side, that’s where they kind of stay put,” she said. “Those that live on the east side or southwest Detroit usually stick to the neighborhood in the area where you’re most comfortable in.

“We want to change that trajectory by having these neighborhood hubs across the city, so that no matter where you live, you have somewhere in your neighborhood — in your backyard — where you’re able to go and access college access resources and an opportunity to then also persist and actually complete those credentials.”

Graduate 313 was launched with the intention of improving the City of Detroit’s access to and completion of college degrees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18% of Detroit residents age 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree. The initiative is aligned with helping boost that number toward Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “” goal of having 60% of working-age adults earn a postsecondary college degree or skill certificate by 2030.

MiSean Washington, program manager for Graduate 313, advises a student on next steps after applying to college during Detroit College Onsite Day. (Photo by Lance Knight)

Graduate 313 will help address the challenges city residents young and old face by bringing resources closer to the communities that need them most, creating clearer pathways to college, career training and economic mobility, Brooks said.

Graduate 313 plans to measure success by tracking who’s coming through its doors, setting a goal of reaching 5,000 Detroit residents in its first year, Brooks said, with the intention of increasing that number year-over-year. This will be done by collecting data on who takes advantage of its services while assigning participants in the program to one of six advisors for high school, college and adult learners.

“We’re not only trying to connect them to credentialing and postsecondary planning, but we’re also trying to connect them to the resources that are preventing the barriers that they have right now,” Brooks said. “We want to help eliminate that.

“So I think it’s a unique position to be in, where we’re not just concerned necessarily just with our numbers — like we’ve got to hit a certain amount of people — but we really want to make sure that we’re touching people so that they spread the word that, ‘Here’s genuinely a staff of people that are going to connect me across the city of Detroit to people in places that I may not have had access to if I had not been connected through Graduate 313 and the Detroit College Access Network.’”

While the Jacob Family Foundation is on board for a three-year funding commitment, Fenkell said the foundation and DCAN also are actively fundraising to continue the effort past the three-year grant.

The foundation believes giving residents access to support that will help them get to “day one” of college in a setting that isn’t intimidating with help from people who are embedded in the community will help remove the barriers that could be the deciding factor in whether they decide to continue toward the completion of a degree, she said.

“We know that the student counselor ratio at the high schools is extremely off balance,” she said. “It’s just challenging to get the support easily. (Graduate 313 provides) a wide range of support that you’re not necessarily able to easily seek out on all college campuses.”

This was originally published by Michigan Advance.

Are Detroit’s Health Hubs the Solution to DPSCD’s Chronic Absenteeism Problem?

Hannah Dellinger — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 10:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

Upbeat on-hold music blared from Jerrica Mickens’ cellphone for nearly 50 minutes as she searched on her laptop for affordable housing for a parent in Detroit.

Mickens was on a three-way call with a mother and a legal aide hotline the morning of April 21 in her Central High School office. As the two waited for a representative to answer questions about the mother’s landlord troubles, Mickens asked what else her family needed. Did they want to pick up a box of groceries for the month? Did the kids need new clothes? Did anyone in the family need mental health services?

Mickens is one of nine “navigators” whose job is getting to know school communities and discerning their needs. They play a critical role in the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s 10 Health Hubs. Since , the hubs have contributed to improved attendance in the district and helped thousands of families, officials say.

Mickens’ time and care is often a lifeline for parents in survival mode. Sometimes, she said, families just need someone to listen.

“My passion is serving people,” said Mickens. “So if that’s what a person needs, then I’m gonna be here for that.”

The navigators lead parents through a complex web of district resources, social services, and nonprofit assistance they may not otherwise know how to access. Their offices serve as a one-stop-shop to triage the root causes that keep students from regularly attending school, such as , , and .

At the hubs, students are connected with vision and hearing screenings, as well as medical, dental, and mental health care. The centers connect families with housing, utility assistance, and legal services. The school community can stop in for food and hygiene product distribution.

From July 1, 2023, through June 14, the hubs served families 19,200 times and more than 1,100 referrals were made.

“We know that for students to show up ready to learn and focus on their academics, their basic health and well-being needs must be met first,” said Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. “Schools are the natural, trusted, and most convenient hub for families to access these vital resources.”

Prolonged absenteeism has long been a problem for Detroit schools due to systemic socioeconomic barriers, which in turn severely .

Michigan students are considered chronically absent when they miss 18 days or more in a 180-day school year.

Nearly 61% of the district’s students were . Though the rate was considerably higher than the statewide average of 28%, DPSCD has in reducing absenteeism since the COVID-19 pandemic.

District officials attribute the improvement to many long-term efforts – like creating a culture of improving attendance among leaders, hiring more counselors to address mental health needs, and student incentives – but they believe the hubs are a key piece.

Overall, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate decreased by 5.2 percentage points last year compared to 2022-23, the last year before the hubs opened. Academic performance has also improved, with and reaching historic highs last year.

“K-12 students who accessed the Health Hubs during the 2024–25 school year had better average daily attendance and lower rates of chronic absenteeism than students who did not access the Hubs,” said Vitti, though he didn’t provide detailed numbers.

Jaiden Mabins, who recently graduated from Osborn High School, said his attendance improved and his postsecondary plans were affected by Mickens’ work as a navigator at his school.

In 10th grade, Mabin’s home burned down, which meant moving in with his sister near 10 Mile – a considerable distance from his school on the east side of Detroit. The limited transportation options forced him to stay home many days, he said.

“Ms. Jerrica, she helped us find a new place, still close in the neighborhood for school,” said Mabins.

The navigator gave him new clothes, school supplies, and a laptop. When it came time to think about his post-high school options, she helped him fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Addressing Detroit families’ needs beyond the school day

At 11:50 a.m. at Central High School, 17-year-old Jeremy McKinney was led by a school employee through Mickens’ office door, held open by two stacked boxes of canned green beans overflowing from the hub’s food distribution pantry.

McKinney squinted when he introduced himself, struggling to see. His glasses had been stolen. The navigator got him on the waiting list to get a new pair from that regularly visits the school.

Around 185 pairs of glasses have been given to kids in the district since the hubs opened, according to DPSCD.

As Mickens got back to packing boxes of groceries for scheduled pick-ups, she paused periodically to answer calls from parents.

“Oh Lord Jesus, I hope I can help her,” she said of a mother whose house flooded. Once a new place was secured, Mickens said she knew an for the kids. She could also help them get gas cards to get to school and some clothing.

While DPSCD has always tried to fill gaps for students with attendance agents and wraparound services, district officials say the hubs streamline the process. Navigators have the time for deeper conversations with families and take detailed notes on their case files. They can also better track how the children are served by outside organizations beyond the initial referral.

All of the hubs are strategically placed so every school has a location within 3 miles.

Mickens is currently responsible for 10 feeder schools in addition to Central and Durfee Elementary-Middle School. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she travels to the other schools to get to know parent outreach coordinators, principals, and social workers who relay family needs.

There are currently hubs in 10 DPSCD schools — Central, Denby, Henry Ford, Marygrove, Martin Luther King Jr., Mumford, Osborn, Southeastern, and Western International high schools, as well as East English Village Prep Academy.

There will also be hubs at the new Cody and Pershing high schools when they open for the 2027-28 school year. There are plans for a Detroit Lions Academy location, though an opening date has not been set.

It costs around $500,000 a year to operate each hub, said Vitti. But because most of the expenses are covered by donations from community partners, the actual cost for DPSCD is around $172,000 a year per hub, he added.

Coordinated school health plan models in and the . Those districts reportedly saw improvements in attendance and academic achievement, as well as lower rates of student discipline.

A third-party evaluator is currently examining how the hubs affect DPSCD student attendance. It is expected to be complete in the fall.

Later that day at Central, Mickens grabbed two tuna snack packs and a chocolate milk for a teen boy in between classes.

The navigator asked if he’d filled out the dental exam permission slip she gave him days before. No, he said, because he wouldn’t be at the school for long.

She consoled the student after learning the reason he had to leave. “No judgment,” she said.

Mickens said she understands some of the challenges the students she serves face. She dropped out when she was a ninth grader at Central years ago.

“A lot of it was because of the disconnect of social services that I needed,” she said. “ I have a heart to not let kids go through what I have.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

A Restored Detroit Rail Station Looks to the Future, Offering Training for Teens

Patrick O’Donnell — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:30:00 +0000

The teenagers at the entrepreneurship class at a new Detroit Boys and Girls Club had ideas for a business or product they could create.

Now they had to refine them and think about how to pitch them to investors or customers.

“Go back to your product statement, what your product is, and then tell us your core feature,” instructor Brandon Martin, founder of a startup company, told the four groups of high schoolers at a new training center in Detroit. “After we do this … we kind of map this out a little bit.”

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The seminar and the training center itself would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, when people struggling with homelessness and drug addiction — not young people looking to build their future — overran what was then a crumbling ruin of a building.

The teens were gathered in a new Boys and Girls Club created on the fifth floor of the old Michigan Central Station. , the 18-story tower was abandoned in 1988 and quickly vandalized, making its surrounded by razor wire .

In 2018, after several plans to restore or raze the station failed, the Ford Motor Company stepped in and spent nearly $1 billion over six years to create a 30-acre innovation campus out of the station and some surrounding buildings, including a former post office that had also been abandoned for decades.

Today, the Beaux Art station’s three-story concourse, designed by the same architects as New York City’s Grand Central Station, is now restored as a showpiece and reception hall.

Floors that had been gutted now serve as Ford offices. A hotel will soon occupy the top five floors. Shops and cultural activities are also being added. And the former post office next door now houses startup companies that use space and manufacturing equipment provided by Ford to try to grow their business.

Michigan Central Station’s concourse, once vandalized and graffitied, is prepared for one of the frequent events it hosts. (Patrick O’Donnell)

Youth training is an important part of the mix, with Ford devoting an entire 17,000 square-foot floor to career exposure and entrepreneurship efforts for young people ages 14 to 24.

“If you want to fill the jobs of the future, you’ve got to start with students,” said Janelle Arbuckle-Michael, Michigan Central’s associate director for K-12 initiatives. “You’ve got to start with exposure. You got to start with opportunities. And you have to have a pathway for them to go.”

Arbuckle-Michael said having youth learn about careers in the same campus as innovators and new companies offers chances for teens to learn about — and from — the businesses, who can attract new employees or collaborators as students grow and learn.

The youth training floor’s first tenant didn’t work out — a Google program teaching computer coding launched in 2024 but left a year later. But Michigan Central now splits the floor between a design program run by Grand Valley State University and with a few local nonprofits, including one that trains teens in flying drones. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit is by far the biggest, taking over three fourths of the floor.

The Boys and Girls Club spent about $4 million, including donations from the foundations of singers Usher and Big Sean, to turn the shell of brick walls into a training center with cutting edge equipment for broadcast, music and fashion design that teens can use to develop products and businesses. The club also offers classes, mentors and presentations by professionals to guide them, often from young adult business owners who are allowed to share the space in return for being teachers and mentors.

Boys and Girls Club members discuss business ideas at an entrepreneurship class T Michigan Central Station. (Patrick O’Donnell)

Sean Wilson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit, said children born in poverty rarely reach the top without help, so the clubs have made it their mission to offer it.

“It’s about providing youth with various forms of capital, unique opportunities that act as an intervention and a catalyst to move them up the ladder,” Wilson said.

“For them to be able to sit right next to startups … that proximity is ultimately, I think, the secret sauce, the cheat code to help our kids achieve mobility,” he added.

The club opened in February, but it has already helped students start businesses.

Meshach Charles, 18, learned some basic business skills at neighborhood Boys and Girls Clubs before graduating from Detroit Public Schools’ Cass Technical High School last spring. The mentoring and guidance at the Michigan Central Club has helped him start his own landscaping business, including just registering as a limited liability corporation and helping him plan to open bank accounts, seek grants and apply for a tax identification number.

Club staff also taught him how to make connections with other businesses and find people he can trust to help guide him.

“I need to be cautious, but I also need to put myself out there a little bit more than I am right now,” he said. “That’s definitely helping.”

Alaysha Hayes, 18, a student at both Roseville High School north of the city and Macomb Community College, is growing her new fashion business, Alay Customs. With that business, she sews outfits on her own, or works with clients to add decorations and highlights to clothes they provide for special occasions such as proms or weddings.

“In the Black culture, they do prom really, really big,” Hayes said. “So they like appliqués, rhinestones and things like that to go with the women’s dresses. We hand sew all of these pieces onto the suit, and it just really gives it a nice look.”

Hayes learned sewing and fashion design skills at a neighborhood Boys and Girls Club, then applied to take classes and use equipment at Michigan Central. There, the club gives her workspace and she can use high-end equipment — including a $30,000 sewing machine — she’d never be able to afford.

“I’m able to bring my clients here to do fittings.” she said. “It’s a very professional workspace, and I’m able to get a lot of stuff done. When you’re home, you don’t get as much stuff done as if you were in an office space.”

Alaysha Hayes shows off a dress she altered and decorated for an early client of her business, Alay Customs, at Michigan Central.

Kevin Haynes, executive director of the club, said the club doesn’t provide the materials for students to mass-produce items. Their businesses have to buy those. But providing computer, film, sound and fashion labs with top equipment gives them a big advantage.

“You gotta understand, some of these young people are working on these designs in a basement and somebody’s second bedroom or something like that, so they don’t have a … creative space to work with things,” he said. “We’re giving them access to equipment that they may not have access to. And here they are rent free. They have the workspace. You have a workbench, you have materials, you have a space where you can collaborate with other people. That’s a tremendous value.”

Classes are also a large part of the program, with single-day or multi-week lessons after school, in evenings or on weekends on business topics including finance, branding or marketing. The club also offers how-to sessions on podcasts, aerospace engineering, coding, health technology, and using camera angles, lighting and special effects in film.

The entrepreneurship class Martin taught had a focus on health in sports. Martin’s company, was created in 2022 to prevent football injuries, so he brings recent startup experience to the lessons.

As part of his eight-week seminar, Martin had teens, all 17 and under, come up with ideas to improve sports or make them more accessible to young people. They suggested: creating an app showing how to train different parts of the body; shoes that can swap soles for different sports; listing free athletic opportunities for low income youth and regularly testing reaction times during a season to check for concussion damage.

Martin was pleased with the short “elevator speeches” the teens had for the ideas.

“If you were in an elevator with the CEO, and you told them that, they’d understand exactly what you’re building,” Martin said. “You all did a really, really good job with that.”

Members of the Michigan Central Boys and Girls Club sketched out how their idea to have shoes with interchangeable soles for different sports would work. (Patrick O’Donnell)

He then pushed them further: Figure out how a customer using the product for the first time would experience it and how many steps it would take to be able to use the core function. Are instructions hard? Does it have sign-ons? Privacy checks?

For Wilson, mixing entrepreneurs like Martin with teens just starting to think about running a business is a big step in helping guide them. He considers it one of the core features, as Martin put it, in making the club a great resource for students who would otherwise have little help.

“If you’re 19, 20 and you’re a go-getter, where do you go?” Wilson asked. “That’s the purpose of this floor.”

Nearly 84% of Detroit District High Schoolers Were Paid for Attendance This Year

Hannah Dellinger — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 16:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

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Nearly 84% of Detroit district high schoolers were paid for coming to school this year, with far more students in neighborhood schools receiving the payout.

Roughly 12,800 Detroit Public School Community District students received at least one $100 Visa gift card for showing up to each class every school day in five-day cycles from Jan. 5 through March 20, according to the district. The district has 15,247 students enrolled across 26 high schools in the district. Students could earn up to $1,000 total.

The chronic absenteeism rate for the district’s high schoolers decreased by 10 percentage points this school year compared to 2023-24, before the incentive began. This year’s rate was 54% by the end of April compared to 64% in 2023-24, according to DPSCD.

The program as part of the district’s ongoing campaign to curb chronic absenteeism, which is defined as a student missing 10% or more of days in a school year. That’s 18 days of instruction in a typical 180-day school year.

Schools in Detroit and other communities like it have long struggled with kids missing too much school due to systemic issues, such as poverty. Though DPSCD had in 2024-25, the district has since the COVID pandemic.

More students were eligible for the attendance incentive this year in part because eligibility was calculated in one-week cycles, Superintendent Nikoali Vitti said at an April board committee meeting. Last year, students had to have perfect attendance in two-week cycles to receive the money.

DPSCD data shows the incentive reached far more students attending neighborhood high schools, compared to last year when the majority who received the money went to students at application or exam schools.

“That was something that was a challenge last year that definitely improved this year,” Vitti said.

For example, only 16% of students at Pershing High School got the incentive at least once in 2024-25. More than 62% of the school did in 2025-26.

Data shows the program largely supported students who already had good attendance, however, and those who were at risk of becoming chronically absent.

“It’s still not at scale getting at those students that are dramatically absent,” said Vitti.

DPSCD defines dramatic chronic absence as missing 45 days or more of school.

The district’s data tracks with what : Such programs do not address demotivating factors like .

Still, Vitti said the incentive has been a success overall in improving high school attendance.

“I think it’s also creating greater advocacy among their students themselves,” he said, adding that students are making sure their attendance data is correct and following up with their teachers, principals, and the superintendent.

The district next school year in a budget proposal presented to the board last month. If the board votes to adopt the idea, students in grades 6-8 would get $50 for each week of perfect attendance January through March.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at

New Study Ties Rx Kids to Decline in Flint Child Welfare Investigations

Katherine Dailey — Thu, 21 May 2026 14:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

New research published in JAMA Pediatrics, a section of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found a statistically significant decrease in the number of Child Protective Services investigations in Flint after the implementation of Rx Kids.

The prenatal and infant direct cash support program and has since expanded throughout the state.

The study, done by researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Michigan State University, showed a 7-percentage-point decrease in the investigated allegation rate among infants born in Flint, which corresponds to a 32% decrease compared to the period prior to Rx Kids interventions.

“In the 3 years prior to the implementation of Rx Kids, the proportion of infants with an investigated allegation within the first 6 months of life was 21.7% (646 of 2971 infants) in Flint and 19.5% (3921 of 20124 infants) among control cities,” according to the . “After implementation of Rx Kids in 2024, the investigated allegation rate decreased to 15.5% (165 of 1065 infants) in Flint, falling below the investigated allegation rate of 20.6% (1303 of 6317 infants) among the control cities.”

Researchers estimate that the program prevented approximately 57 infants from experiencing a child welfare investigation in its first year alone, with a press release from the Rx Kids team celebrating the study as demonstrating the benefits provided by economic support during pregnancy and early infancy.

“These findings, now published in JAMA Pediatrics, underscore the powerful role that economic stability plays in protecting children,” said Dr. Mona Hanna, Rx Kids director and associate dean of public health at Michigan State University. “By trusting families and investing in them during the earliest, most vulnerable period of life, we are not only improving health outcomes; we are preventing trauma before it starts. This is what community-driven public health looks like.”

The study acknowledges a number of limitations with the study, including the fact that only one post-intervention year — 2024 — was included. Additionally, the research included all infants born in Flint in 2024 after Rx Kids implementation rather than actual enrollment in the program, but noted that the high uptake rates of the program should mean that the estimates are very close to reality.

“Our research compared what happened in Flint before and after Rx Kids launched to what we saw in a control group and the results are clear,” said lead author Dr. Sumit Agarwal, a physician and health economist at the University of Michigan, in the press release. “During the first year of Rx Kids, infants in Flint experienced fewer investigations for maltreatment. These results show that providing early economic support to families can make a real difference and should challenge us to rethink how we can proactively support families.”

Another study author, Will Schnieder, associate professor of social work and faculty director of the Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois, added that while it is well-documented that poverty is one of the strongest drivers of child maltreatment risk, research into Rx Kids shows the opposite of that, which is that a financial buffer around the birth of a child can lead to fewer children being harmed.

Since launching in Flint in 2024, Rx Kids has expanded to 42 communities, and to an additional 20 communities across Michigan in summer 2026 — the program’s largest expansion yet.

That expansion is coming as the program is under heavy fire from top Republicans in the state Legislature, notably both House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) and House Appropriations Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton). Both have advocated to cut out all state funding for the program — $20 million — in addition to the significant cuts made to the program’s state funding in a unilateral decision from House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee at the end of 2025.

and have each launched a number of allegations, without evidence, against the program in recent months over what the money provided to families is used for, though a by Rx Kids in March shows virtually no spending on luxury or discretionary items.

Michigan Pipeline Turns Classroom Paraprofessionals Into Teachers

Martin Slagter — Wed, 13 May 2026 12:30:00 +0000

Seven years ago, Donille Cabanaw could not shake the feeling she needed to pivot from the 12 hour days she was working for the U.S. Postal Service when it began to interfere with her daughter starting school.

Becoming a paraprofessional at Dexter Community Schools helped her achieve a more flexible schedule and better work-like balance; then she began working toward a bachelor’s degree in education. That’s when an intriguing opportunity to level up and become a classroom teacher presented itself through Michigan’s initiative.

Created to address Michigan’s educator shortage by removing barriers toward teacher certification, Talent Together helped Cabanaw earn her bachelor’s degree in less than two years. The state-funded initiative covered Cabanaw’s tuition to take virtual classes at Lake Superior State University while paying 80% of a starting teacher’s salary during her year-long apprenticeship alongside an experienced teacher she shared a classroom with at Wylie Elementary.

Now with a fourth grade classroom of her own students, Cabanaw said Talent Together was the break she needed: removing the financial barrier to a teacher certification while helping her gain a year’s worth of classroom experience.

“Having that job and being a parent and being a wife was not sustainable,” Cabanaw recalled. “Really, the shift happened because I wanted to do what was best for my kids.

“Having the ability to do student teaching for a whole year and still get a salary definitely took the burden off of my husband, and we were still able to be a two-income household while working toward my certification.”

Funded with approximately $79 million from the Michigan Legislature, Talent Together connects teacher candidates with 18 colleges and universities across the state. The initiative is targeted at those who already are working in local school districts and others who have always wanted to pursue a teaching degree but experienced time or financial barriers in entering the profession.

Since its establishment in 2023, Talent Together has helped 300 individuals pursue teaching degrees and participate in year-long apprenticeships, providing a debt-free path toward becoming a certified teacher. The initiative also provides a stipend to mentor teachers who share a classroom with their apprentices. By 2029, Talent Together expects to produce 1,200 certified teachers across 400 of the state’s school districts, with a current program retention rate of 82%.

Both mentors and apprentices benefit from Talent Together’s staff of educator development specialists, who provide support and feedback to participants, while apprentice teachers have access to a “success navigator” who ensures they are guided smoothly through the process of earning their degrees and certifications.

“I think all of those things together are what allow us to see someone successful come out of the program and be able to enter into their first year of teaching like [they’ve] been teaching for a while,” Talent Together Executive Director Sarena Shivers said.

The road to growing their own

A decade ago, Superintendent Naomi Norman saw potential for paraprofessionals in the Washtenaw Intermediate School District to fill the void of a diminishing pool of special education teachers in the district. The problem was these individuals, who already were dedicated to supporting teachers in local classrooms, needed help with tuition, time off of work and the ability to earn a salary while they earned a teacher certification.

“There were too many barriers in the way for them to become teachers,” she said. “That was the beginning of a seed of, ‘Why don’t we find a way, somehow, to help them get their teaching degree while they’re working for us?’”

Norman approached the Michigan Department of Education about establishing a paraprofession-to-teacher certification program, eventually establishing a groundbreaking pipeline that allowed classroom aides to earn teaching degrees by taking evening and online classes at nearby Eastern Michigan University. The program, which is still running and funded through the district, has helped 43 paraprofessionals earn teaching jobs in Washtenaw County.

The pipeline Washtenaw County established provided a framework for all of the state’s 56 intermediate school districts to create their own “grow your own” programs by establishing a consortium via Talent Together, with Norman building initial partnerships with other superintendents who were experiencing similar teacher shortages.

In 2022, the Tennessee Department of Education announced it had been approved by the U.S. Department of Labor , becoming the first registered apprenticeship program for teaching in the country. The federal approval paved the way for Michigan and other states to follow Tennessee’s lead by tapping in to their own staff to fill its vacancies, Norman said.

“The impact isn’t just that we’re filling a teacher role,” Norman said. “The impact is they’re filling a teacher role, and they already know our students, they already know our community, they already know Washtenaw County, they already know our curriculum. They’re not like a first-year teacher, they’re more like a second- or third-year teacher by the time they get started, because we have that whole year of apprenticing where they were developing all those skills and working in the classroom.”

Learning from each other

When Bilyana Zambova migrated to the U.S. from Bulgaria more than two decades ago, she had hoped to put her degree in chemical engineering to use. When that didn’t work out, Zambova got a job as a direct care worker and discovered she had a passion for working with special needs individuals.

Once she got married and had children, though, Zambova pivoted to pursuing a degree in computer science because it provided more flexibility for her to work from home; but the new career path proved unfulfilling.

Ultimately, Zambova returned to working with special needs individuals as a special education paraprofessional with East Lansing Public Schools, where she enjoyed working with children. The job led to her becoming a special education teacher after earning a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. Talent Together cleared a path for her to earn a master’s degree in special education for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

“I think the way that Talent Together changed things for me was knowing that I didn’t have to have the financial burden of having to keep taking out loans,” Zambova said. “I think ultimately, for many folks maybe in the same boat as me, that’s the biggest motivator. That made a significant difference in how motivated I was.”

Beyond offering a path for those who want to become teachers, Talent Together has helped school districts develop a pipeline of future educators who are interested in providing stability in their home districts.

Donille Cabanaw (left) and Betsy Schmidt talk about the experience of being an apprentice and mentor teachers in Michigan’s Talent Together initiative. (Martin Slagter)

Talent Together requires those who complete the program to teach in their home district for a minimum of five years in key shortage areas throughout the state, including early childhood education, elementary education, English as a second language, special education and secondary math and integrated sciences.

“I think that Talent Together is doing an excellent job of making sure that this is what we really want to do and [making] sure we’re in it for the long haul,” Cabanaw said.

For mentor teacher Betsy Schmidt, who partnered with Cabanaw during her year-long apprenticeship with Dexter Community Schools, the opportunity to work with a young teacher helped her examine her own motivations and practices and reinvigorate her 12 years into her career.

In addition to helping Cabanaw develop her own decision-making processes for how she would handle the classroom on her own, Schmidt noticed she and Cabanaw excelled in teaching different types of students: Cabanaw had a knack for helping with students who are excelling, while Schmidt is at her best with helping students who are struggling.

“I was like, ‘Oh, those are the harder kids for me to connect with,’ so how do we lean into that and how do we learn from each other here?” Schmidt said. “We went in really saying, ‘This is our classroom.’”

Detroit School Board Considers Changes to PTAs After Complaints About Conflicts

Hannah Dellinger — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

The Detroit school district is considering recognizing parent organizations that operate independently from the state and national Parent Teacher Association.

, introduced by the Detroit Public Schools Community District during a Feb. 26 board committee meeting, came after members expressed frustrations over reported dysfunction and conflict within some local PTAs last year. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said during a June board meeting some PTAs have had challenges with “proper implementation of elections” and “following protocols.”

Board Member Monique Bryant told Chalkbeat this week the proposed policy would create better balance by allowing parents to choose what works best for their individual schools.

Some school communities may not have parents with the time or bandwidth to formally organize and run PTAs, she said. A better option for some parents may be to join an organization overseen by the district’s Family and Community Engagement Department, or FACE.

The proposed policy amendment could mean that formal parent engagement ends up looking different from school to school. It would recognize independent, locally organized parent-teacher organizations, as well as other parent organization models approved by FACE. The proposal would also clarify the voting model all organizations must rely on: Each year, every school would vote on the type of parent organization model it wants to use and submit results to district administrators.

The proposed amendment follows incidents of mismanagement by two parent-teacher organizations reported by the district’s Office of Inspector General over the last seven years.

The National PTA is a nationwide volunteer-led organization with state and local chapters, which organize to fundraise, plan educational events, and advocate for students’ needs. PTAs are self-governed, separate entities from local school districts.

DPSCD’s current policy only recognizes the PTA as its “official parent organization of record” for its schools. There are multiple that oversee school-based chapters in the district.

The board has not yet voted on the proposed changes.

Tonya Whitehead, president of the Michigan PTA, and leaders of several Detroit PTA councils did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But Whitehead said during public comment at a July committee meeting that state and Detroit PTA leadership provided support and additional training to local chapters to address the issues raised by the board and Vitti.

“We are committed to continual improvement within our organizations, including streamlining processes to improve response time, providing additional training to members and PTA leaders at all member levels, and working together with the FACE office to improve two-way communication and behavior problem solving,” she said at the time.

Board members did not discuss the policy when the district introduced the proposal at the February committee meeting. However, members called for change at multiple meetings last year.

Bryant said she complained last year about the handling of a PTA election at Cass Technical High School. Bryant, who is a Cass Tech parent and was a member of the PTA, said the organization did not follow its bylaws when it took nominations for new leadership. The result was that PTA’s entire executive board was reelected before their terms were up, said Bryant.

The Cass Tech PTSA — which also includes students — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bryant added she contacted the Michigan PTA with concerns, but the organization was unresponsive.

“I don’t think we should be moving forward with individual schools still trying to have elections after this,” she said during the June meeting.

Detroit brought back PTAs to ‘heal the divide’

When the state appointed an emergency manager to take control of Detroit Public Schools in 2009, PTAs were removed. That emergency management ended in 2016, and PTAs returned to district schools after Vitti began as superintendent in May 2017.

“We set out to try to heal the divide that was between the community and schools – one of the ways that the board and I thought best to do that [was] bring back the PTA,” said Vitti at the July committee meeting.

Whitehead said during public comment of that meeting that DPSCD staff “were closely integrated in trying to start units in every school in the district” when emergency management ended.

She said their efforts “included collecting dues and being listed as the contractor for PTAs in district documents,” which resulted in “incomplete paperwork” and made it appear that PTA concerns should be directed to district staff.

“Post-pandemic, PTA, in cooperation with the FACE office, has been working hard to end those practices and ensure that adults engaged with PTA and the district know the difference between the roles and responsibilities of each,” she added. “But there is more work to be done.”

Vitti said it is challenging for the PTA “to monitor elections, ensure the training and capacity of officers once they’re elected, and problem-solve through conflict between officers at certain schools.”

Conflict over policy arose at PTAs beyond Cass Technical last year, Bryant said. For example, PTA members at two schools complained it was unfair that school staff who were also parents of students at their school could become executive officers of their PTA, she said. Bryant did not identify the two schools.

Mismanagement of parent organization funds were found in previous years by the Office of Inspector General, or OIG, which serves as an independent oversight office for the district.

In 2019, the OIG received complaints the PTA committee of a district school mismanaged fundraising proceeds. Because the PTA did not properly document the amount of funds raised, the could not determine how much money was reportedly missing.

The district mandated cash management training for all PTA officers and fundraising organizers as a result of the OIG’s recommendations stemming from its investigation. Detroit schools also began requiring PTAs to submit financial statements after every school-based fundraising event.

, the OIG found that a parent organization improperly retained funds for a school field trip, and also reported a lack of district oversight of support organizations. The OIG recommended the parent group pay an outstanding bill of more than $7,200. The OIG also recommended better collaboration between district offices to improve donation tracking, as well as internal controls for parent support organizations.

However, board members did not mention those two incidents when they shared concerns about PTAs, and Vitti did not address them. It is unclear whether they contributed to the district’s decision to introduce the proposal in February to change how parent organizations work.

“I think the issue has been the PTA has not been able to demonstrate the capacity … to work within the district at the scale that we operate at, because we’re so much larger,” said Vitti in July.

Vitti said the PTA needed to expedite its response to issues at individual schools and improve its communication with the board.

Some board members raised the option of letting individual schools decide whether to continue their PTAs or start new organizations, a choice that’s included in the new policy proposal.

“Instead of creating a one size fits all approach … we might be looking at individual schools that seem to have repeated problems, which is high level conflict, move away from that and run it at the district level in order to create better balance,” said Vitti.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Michigan Lawmakers Aim to Fix State’s K-12 School Literacy Crisis

Lori Higgins — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

Lawmakers in Lansing are moving aggressively to address Michigan’s K-12 literacy crisis with multiple pieces of legislation that target training for teachers, retention for struggling third graders, and consequences for teacher preparation programs.

The legislative action comes as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has made addressing literacy a priority for 2026, her last year in office. During her State of the State address last month, Whitmer detailed steps already underway to improve literacy and recommendations in her budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. Among them is additional money she wants to invest in high-impact literacy tutoring, high-quality curriculum, literacy training for teachers, and hiring of literacy coaches.

“This is a serious problem,” Whitmer said in the address. “Our kids deserve better.”

Just 38.9% of third graders were proficient on the English language arts portion of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress last year. It was the lowest performance of third graders in the exam’s 11-year history, Chalkbeat and Bridge Michigan reported.

On the national front, just 24% of Michigan fourth graders were proficient in 2024 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, an exam known as the “nation’s report card.” That compares to 30% being proficient nationally. Michigan students’ performance has been stagnant and declining even as other states that have invested heavily in early literacy have improved. Michigan now ranks 44th in the nation for fourth-grade reading on the NAEP.

This isn’t the first time Michigan lawmakers have taken aim at the state’s challenges with literacy. In 2016, fueled by similarly troubling test results in reading, lawmakers passed a Read by Grade 3 law that required early intervention, the hiring of literacy coaches, and the retention of third graders struggling to reade. The retention rule has since been rescinded. Ten years since that broad effort, Michigan’s student literacy problem continues.

Here are the literacy initiatives being considered in Michigan

would require that by the 2031-32 school year, all K-5 educators who provide, support, or oversee instruction, including in literacy, must have been , which refers to a body of knowledge that emphasizes phonics along with building vocabulary and background knowledge. The bill doesn’t specify a specific training program, but says the current training being encouraged for Michigan teachers — Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, or LETRS — meets the requirements of the legislation.

would require that, beginning Sept. 30, 2027, an individual seeking a teaching certificate in Michigan must have completed a teacher preparation program that included training in the science of reading.

would bring back the third-grade retention policy Michigan previously had in place. The bill would require struggling third graders, who would be identified based on their state test scores, repeat the grade. There would be some “good cause” exemptions, such as for students with disabilities whose educational plan team leader exempts them from the requirement. Michigan’s previous third-grade retention law, which went into effect during the 2020-21 school year, was rescinded in 2023 when Democrats controlled the legislature and the governor’s office. They argued the law was punitive and wasn’t working.

During a Wednesday hearing of the House Education and Workforce committee, Rep. Nancy DeBoer, a Republican from Holland who chairs the committee, said reading gives children the independence to pick up a book and go anywhere.

“Unless you’re in the state of Michigan and you’re three-quarters of the students in eighth grade who can’t read or do math in a competent manner,” she said. “That is a tragedy we are responsible for.”

DeBoer introduced the bipartisan bill that would make training in the science of reading a requirement for K-5 teachers.

The state has funded LETRS training, but thus far hasn’t made it a requirement. In September, the State Board of Education urged that it become a mandate for all K-5 teachers, saying the lack of one “has led to inconsistent participation of Michigan educators and inconsistent access to instruction based on the science of reading for Michigan’s students.”

The science of reading also figures prominently in a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Tim Kelly, a Republican from Saginaw Township. He described the bill as “a long overdue rescue mission for the next generation of Michigan’s workers, citizens, and leaders.”

Kelly said Wednesday that teacher preparation programs that don’t equip teachers with the tools needed to teach children to read have forfeited their right to operate in Michigan.

“We must stop subsidizing failure,” Kelly said.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Michigan Senate Committee Passes Child Care Reform Bills with Mostly Bipartisan Support

Katherine Dailey — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 18:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

Two bill packages — one seeking to lower child care costs and expand options, especially in areas without significant child care options, and the other to clarify child neglect and abuse statutes — passed through the Senate Housing and Human Services committee on Tuesday morning.

Only two of the bills in the first package, which would essentially codify the state’s and adjust reimbursements under that program, which child care benefits to families under a certain income threshold by splitting the cost of an employee’s child care between the employer, the employee and the State of Michigan, faced opposition from the Republican members of the committee, still passing on party lines.

In a on the bills earlier in March, Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-West Bloomfield), who sponsored one of the bills in the package, said that the child care system is “in crisis,” which is having a $2.9 billion annual economic impact on the state.

“The system is shrinking. Families can’t afford or find accessible child care providers,” Bayer said. “Providers are losing employees, shrinking or even closing down, and families are struggling to pay for services if they can find one, with costs often over $1,100 a month.”

“The astronomical cost of child care, coupled with the hoops and hurdles providers must jump through to stay open, continues to fuel a crisis that impacts our families, workforce, and broader state economy,” said Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), sponsor of , one of the bills which passed unanimously, in a press release following the vote. “By cutting some of the costs and red tape facing providers, we can start to address the child care deserts that exist throughout the state, especially in our rural communities.”

Prior to the vote, Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Warrendale) emphasized that, though she supports the bills, she also hoped to see further conversations about the impacts of these bills on businesses offering child care programs — which Sen. Jonathan Lindsey (R-Coldwater) added could call into question the need for MiLEAP, the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, more broadly.

“If we’re serious and we’re dedicated to making sure that access to child care is available, definitely there needs to be more oversight in this area, and also maybe just a really a deep dive into how these rules in this book reflect when it comes to the actual common sense of child care and those provisions that we’ve put in place,” Santana said. “So I’m dedicated to this package of bills. I don’t mind getting it out of committee, but I do want to have a broader conversation with stakeholders, as well as those business owners who are definitely feeling the pinch of some of the rules within this book that may not make common sense at this point for them to be able to really continue as business owners.”

The other two bills in that package, which would establish a review and appeal process for certain violations of child care organization rules and set in place standards for investigations, passed unanimously.

Both bills in the second package on altering the child abuse and neglect statutes also passed unanimously. They would specify the definitions of child neglect and abuse, specifically excluding “independent activities” like walking or bicycling to school or playing outdoors from qualifying under child neglect and abuse statutes.

“The idea is to make sure that our childhood welfare laws are aligned with reasonable childhood independence and that parents child care providers, first responders, schools, day cares, everyone has the right information about what is neglect and abuse and what is not, so that we can reduce the number of false reports and unneeded investigations,” said committee chair Sen. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor), who sponsored one of the bills, in an on the legislation.

All of the bills will now be reported to the full Senate for a vote.

Michigan Lawmakers Take Aim at Fixing the State’s K-12 School Literacy Crisis

Lori Higgins — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

“This is a serious problem,” Whitmer said in the address. “Our kids deserve better.”

Here are the literacy initiatives being considered in Michigan

DeBoer introduced the bipartisan bill that would make training in the science of reading a requirement for K-5 teachers.

Kelly said Wednesday that teacher preparation programs that don’t equip teachers with the tools needed to teach children to read have forfeited their right to operate in Michigan.

“We must stop subsidizing failure,” Kelly said.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Groups Seek Funding Fix to Help Michigan Grow Dual Enrollment Even More

Martin Slagter — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:30:00 +0000

When Macomb Community College began to notice a sizable increase in high school students enrolling in its classes in 2022, it decided to create its first Office of K-12 Relations.

The small office helped the southeast Michigan community college establish better relationships with 21 neighboring school districts and grow its dual enrollment population by 37% over the next three years.

Like Macomb, many of the community colleges and four-year universities in Michigan have put more of their resources toward a fast-growing demographic: high schoolers. As a result, Michigan’s dual enrollment population grew by 16% in 2023-24, with high school juniors and seniors accounting for .

“We knew that we had a lot of potential to grow that population, but really needed to put more intentional focus on it and additional resources,” said Aimee Adamski, director of Enrollment Services at Macomb Community College.

Across the country, via dual enrollment in 2023-24, with an additional 300,000 students receiving both high school and college academic credits for taking courses. Studies show dual enrollment has been found to have on college access, degree attainment, credit accumulation and completion of high school. But, as has found, these benefits could go even further by expanding outreach to underserved high schools and communities.

Although Michigan is keenly focused on for students to earn college credits during high school, it still lags behind its Midwest neighbors, including states like Indiana, where high school students account for more than a quarter of undergraduate enrollment, .

Community college advocates believe one way Michigan could grow dual enrollment even further is by removing the requirement that school districts pay for the courses. Michigan public schools are funded by a yearly foundation allowance provided by the state of $10,050 per student. Currently, the district is obligated to pay for whatever portion of classes a student takes via dual enrollment, creating a heavy financial burden. So if 20% of a student’s classes for the year are through dual enrollment, the school district will pay around $2,000 of that student’s $10,050 foundation allowance toward those dual enrollment courses.

The Michigan Community College Association, Detroit Regional Chamber have recommended the state for dual enrollment programs, such as a designated categorical grant or the state’s postsecondary scholarship fund.

“We have the right ingredients for a really robust dual enrollment participation in Michigan,” Michigan Community College Association President Brandy Johnson said. “The problem is really aligning the fiscal incentives to make sure that K-12 school districts are truly shouting the benefits of dual enrollment from the rooftops without being nervous about how it’s going to impact their bottom line.”

Michigan Department of Education spokesman Ken Coleman said the state wants to expand secondary learning opportunities for all students, including dual enrollment, Advanced Placement, Early Middle College, career and technical education programs and International Baccalaureate. Coleman said the state’s education department is reviewing the MCCA’s report. In the meantime, the state’s Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential will focused on improving Michigan’s dual enrollment policies and increasing its participation rates.

Meetings students’ evolving needs

Dearborn Public Schools has built one of the most robust dual enrollment and early middle college programs in Michigan, with approximately 56% of eligible seniors enrolled in at least one college course. Its unique K-14 model allows students to blend high school and college classes and to graduate in five years with both a high school diploma and associate degree or trade certificate.

Dearborn’s partnership with neighboring Henry Ford College, for example, opened the door for more than 3,800 students to take nearly 9,000 college classes in 2024-25, Dearborn Executive Director of Student Achievement Diana Shahin said. The district estimated it provided $5.8 million in 2024-25 to pay for dual enrollment and early middle college tuition and books.

The district works with students as early as middle school to identify possible career paths and provides four different early middle colleges to accommodate specific careers in education and engineering. Shahin said it is important Dearborn Public Schools offer a variety of postsecondary education options because it is competing with neighboring schools for the same pool of students.

“I think the way we understand traditional education as we once knew it feels somewhat antiquated,” Shahin said. “I think students want to be able to accomplish more in a shorter period of time, and they have lots of options at their fingertips in the world. So, school districts are having to compete with the various options and really have to listen to their audience. If we’re not serving our students and changing and being innovative and growing and learning with the technology and with the access to information, then we’re behind.”

Providing incentives

Beyond increased outreach from community colleges and universities, Johnson said high school students have plenty of their own motivation to pursue dual enrollment.

Michigan allows high school students to enroll in up to 10 college classes through dual enrollment. While many students choose to take courses toward an associate’s degree or certificate, Johnson said most of them use the courses to make early progress toward a degree at a four-year university.

“There is a ton of motivation to take as many courses as they can,” Johnson said. “The truth is, our dual enrollment students are our most successful students. They have higher course completion rates than the general population, and I think that has everything to do with how much incredible support they get from their K-12 settings. They have other teachers, school counselors, principals, coaches and their parents, who typically they still live with, that are cheering them on.”

While listening to families and building partnerships with surrounding districts helps boost interest in dual enrollment, Macomb Community College’s Adamski said it is undeniable that the motivation for high school students to take college classes is financially-driven.

“It can be a really financially supportive way to help a student access and move through those barriers that they might have to higher education — get them that early start and really help launch them toward their career objectives,” she said.

With this in mind, Johnson said she would like to see the cost barriers district schools face removed so students can take full advantage of Michigan’s dual enrollment opportunities.

“At the end of the day, the system we have now is that (public) school districts bear the full cost of dual enrollment out of their per pupil foundation allowance and it’s exactly the disincentive that we think is a reason for why school districts haven’t expanded more,” Johnson said.

Justice Dept. Probes 3 Michigan Districts Over LGBTQ-Related Curriculum

Linda Jacobson — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 21:34:19 +0000

The question of whether parents could opt their children out of sex education lessons was a major point of controversy last year when the Michigan Department of Education updated its health education standards.

Now the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether three districts gave parents advance notice of lessons pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity so their children could be excused. Officials are also investigating whether the districts received any complaints “regarding sex-segregated bathrooms” and other spaces, indicating that the federal government is committed to ensuring “the safety, dignity, and innocence of our youngest citizens.”

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On Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon sent letters to the superintendents of the Detroit, Lansing and Godfrey-Lee school districts, asking for all materials that reference sex and LGBTQ-related terms as well as any complaints or inquiries the districts might have received related to those issues.

“This Department of Justice is fiercely committed to ending the growing trend of local school authorities embedding sexuality and gender ideology in every aspect of public education,” she said in a statement.

The letters to the district’s superintendents signal the Justice Department’s willingness to aggressively enforce last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in in which the justices sided with a group of parents who argued they should be able to opt their elementary school children out of lessons related to LGBTQ-themed storybooks for religious reasons. Michigan’s standards, Dhillon wrote, could be at odds with the court’s decision.

If the districts don’t agree to the department’s demands, they could be at risk of losing federal funding, she wrote. Including school nutrition funds and Medicaid, the Detroit Public Schools Community District, for example, receives over $200 million, according to Jeremy Vidito, chief financial officer.

Officials with Detroit and Lansing districts did not return phone calls or emails, but in an email, Arnetta Thompson, superintendent of the Godfrey-Lee district, called the investigation a “standard review process.”

“We are fully cooperating with this inquiry and will provide any requested information,” she said. “The district is not facing any charges or findings of wrongdoing. We remain committed to complying with all applicable federal, state and local laws and have consistently operated in accordance with those laws.”

In a statement, Michigan state Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said his department supports the three districts that “have been targeted” by the DOJ and said Dhillon wrongly characterized the health guidelines as state requirements.

Parents, he said, ”retain the right to decide whether their children should participate in sex education instruction. And state officials will work with the districts to “select a curriculum that best supports the needs of their students, consistent with state standards and guidelines.”

The investigations reflect the Trump administration’s parental rights agenda, whose nearly singular focus has been to restrict lessons or policies related to gender identity. In a last September, Attorney General Pam Bondi said state and local officials have “ignored, dismissed and even retaliated against concerned parents who speak out against these morally and factually bankrupt ideologies.” One of President Donald Trump’s earliest rejected the Biden administration’s efforts to extend Title IX protections to transgender students. But some experts say it’s highly unusual for the Department of Justice to get involved in matters related to curriculum.

“These investigations depart from longstanding DOJ practice of not dictating or interfering with school curriculum,” said Johnathan Smith, chief of staff and general counsel at the National Center for Youth Law. A former deputy assistant attorney in the DOJ’s civil rights division, he said previously, the department “intentionally avoided” those issues.

Brian Dittmeier, director of LGBTQI+ Equality at the National Women’s Law Center, added that the DOJ’s probe is a “blatant attempt to discourage inclusive education” and takes the Mahmoud decision too far. While that case focused specifically on books that the Montgomery County schools in Maryland added to its reading curriculum in the early grades, DOJ is looking at “content in any class” for pre-K through 12th grade.

But Jonathan Butcher, acting director of the Center for Education Policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the DOJ’s action appears “consistent with the degree of parent empowerment under Mahmoud.”

“Parents need a level of trust that schools will reflect their values, or at least not contradict their values,” he said. It’s likely, he added, that other districts will see similar investigations in line with “the Education Department and White House’s goals to protect students from explicit material.”

‘Capacity issue’

The fact that the DOJ is involved instead of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights could reflect a “capacity issue,” Dittmeier said.

In December, Education Secretary Linda McMahon recalled more than 250 OCR employees to handle a growing backlog of complaints. They had been on administrative leave as a result of her attempts to downsize the department.

While McMahon has moved to shift Education Department offices to other agencies, she has not yet announced where OCR would go. in Congress, however, would move OCR to the Justice Department. The Education and Justice departments also formed a last April to speed up Title IX investigations and “use the full power of the law to remedy any violation of women’s civil rights,” Bondi said in a statement.

While Detroit, with almost 49,000 students, is the state’s largest district, it’s unclear whether any specific complaints triggered the investigations. Lansing, the state capital, declared itself last year.

In 2024, former state Superintendent Michael Rice honored Godfrey-Lee, a small, 1,700-student district south of Grand Rapids, for the state’s 21st Century Model School Library award. He recognized media specialist Harry Coffill for including “diverse books” on the shelves.

The letters to each district ask for an extensive list of materials, dating back to 2023, that include “slideshows, presentations, imagery, posters, signage, recordings and handouts” that reference a variety of terms like “gender spectrum,” “gender expression,” “puberty blockers” and “transitioning.”

Dhillon wants leaders to turn over any forms, notices or permission slips that demonstrate how the districts notify parents when a lesson references sex and gender. She also asked for detailed records of any complaints or questions from parents related to topics such as “queer culture,” “LGBTQIA+,” “Pride Month” or “drag queen.”

note that parents should receive prior notification of sex education classes and curriculum and that they have a right to “opt out their child from all or some” of those lessons. Lansing’s related to controversial issues, for example, says schools will “honor a written request” for students to be excused “for specified reasons.”

State Superintendent Maleyko said the “breadth and scope” of Dhillon’s requests “place a significant administrative burden on local districts and risk diverting time and resources away from the core mission of educating students.”

Whitmer Aims to Boost Literacy As Michigan Students Struggle With Reading

Lori Higgins — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in her final budget proposal this week, is set to unveil a budget proposal for funding schools that invests $625 million in programs aimed at addressing the state’s K-12 literacy crisis.

The literacy investment would come at a time of increased focus on the troubling performance of Michigan students in literacy in the early grades. Just portion of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress last year. It was the lowest performance of third graders in the exam’s 11-year history, Chalkbeat and Bridge Michigan reported last year.

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On the national front, , an exam known as the “nation’s report card.” That compares to 30% being proficient nationally. More concerning is that Michigan student performance has been stagnant and declining as other states that have invested heavily in early literacy have improved.

Whitmer, during her State of the State address last year, called for urgency in addressing the low performance, noting that Michigan spends more than most states.

“It’s not acceptable,” Whitmer said. “For our kids, let’s do better. Let’s face our literacy crisis with fierce urgency.”

“When every child reads, Michigan wins,” Whitmer said in a statement provided by the governor’s office. “As we face a nationwide literacy crisis, my education budget proposal includes big investments to build on the work we’ve done to help kids read.”

For the budget proposal she will deliver to the Michigan Legislature Wednesday, Whitmer’s Every Child Reads plan notes that investing in preschool and wraparound programs is just as important as improving curriculum and ensuring teachers are trained.

Here are some specifics of the plan the governor’s office shared with Chalkbeat this week:

Part of the $625 million investment includes expansion of the state’s initiative, which aims to provide free preschool to children regardless of income. “It starts with high-quality early learning, because the sooner kids start learning to read, the better they become,” the governor’s office said in a media advisory.
The budget would also invest more in Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (or LETRS) training. LETRS is a professional development program based on the science of reading. The refers to a body of knowledge that emphasizes phonics along with building vocabulary and background knowledge.
The budget will include funding that helps districts implement new science of reading-aligned curriculum. The Michigan Department of Education recently published a list of curriculums aligned with the science of reading. School districts aren’t required to adopt from the list. However, the current state budget has language requiring schools or risk losing a small percentage of their state funding.
The budget proposes additional funding to expand summer, before-school, and after-school programming.

Additional details, such as information on how the additional funding would help districts implement curriculum aligned to the science of reading, weren’t available.

State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko, in a statement included in the governor’s advisory, said Whitmer’s focus on literacy is one shared by the Michigan Department of Education, which he oversees, and the State Board of Education, the elected board that hired him last year.

“Nothing is more important to our students and our state than improving literacy,” Maleyko said. “Reading and writing are the foundation for long-term success, and I look forward to working with the Legislature through strong teamwork and shared responsibility to advance these priorities and continue improving student outcomes statewide.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Teachers, Parents Increasingly Back Cell Phone Bans in Michigan Schools

Martin Slagter — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

In his 30 years as teacher and administrator, Jason Purcell felt the weight of responsibility that often fell on his shoulders in enforcing the prohibition of cell phones in the classroom.

When Purcell was convinced to come out of retirement this past fall to teach at Mackinaw City High School, he saw a remarkable difference teaching students in a district that had long banned cell phone use during the school day.

“It makes a world of difference when there is a school wide policy that is enforced by all the teachers consistently and supported by the administration,” said Purcell, who has taught math, been an academic counselor and served as an assistant principal throughout his career. “Students have and always will find ways to be distracted from the learning, but not having cell phones may take away the biggest distraction that students face.”

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Mackinaw City Public Schools’ cell phone ban was instituted around 2010, coinciding with the rise of teen cell phone ownership, longtime Superintendent Jeffrey Curth said.

Teachers have all taken on the responsibility of enforcing that students’ cell phones are left in their locker with the ringer off from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m, Curth said, removing a major source of distractions and potential source of cyber bullying.

“Because we’ve just had it in place so long, it’s just what’s expected,” Curth said. “I think when you see the amount of cyber bullying and things that it’s raised to the level that it has in society today, I think it’s just further strengthened our stance that we feel that we’ve done the right thing.”

As the state considers a school cell phone ban that received , an increasing number of Michigan school districts have followed Mackinaw City’s lead by enacting bans and passing cell phone policies limiting use in the classroom in recent years.

Nationwide, 26 states have passed full bans on cell phone use, while six others have required districts to establish their own policies or limited cell phone use in class, . A 2024 American Association of Educators survey of 1,517 teachers from across the country, on the other hand, found that 70% want cellphones to be banned during the school day.

From passive presence to active participation

Anchor Bay High School student success teacher Jamie Pietron said she was initially apprehensive about how students would adjust to the districtwide ban that started this fall, wondering how the policy would be enforced by administration.

There have been consequences for students who violate the district’s “away for the day” cell phone policy, Pietron said, helping contribute to a more connected learning atmosphere.

“In the past, when kids were done with their work, they went on their phones,” Pietron said. “Teachers are making lessons and activities more engaging to cover any ‘down time’ and students are focused on what they need to do.

“… It is amazing to walk through the cafeteria and see kids actually talking, playing cards and having conversations with each other instead of staring at their screens.”

Northville Middle School teacher Richard Tabor said he also has seen a shift from “passive presence” to active participation in his classroom since the district enacted its cell phone ban in 2024-25 for students in grades K-8 during class time, requiring them to be collected by teachers at the start of the day.

Prior to the ban being in place, Tabor said it was teachers’ responsibility to enforce their own policies on student cell phone use, leading to inconsistency in where students were allowed to use cell phones and where they weren’t.

Without the option to scroll during downtime, students are able to engage with the classroom environment,” Tabor said. “Students are more likely to ask questions, take physical notes and participate in discussions because they have no alternative ‘escape’ during moments of boredom or difficulty.”

Mackinaw City special education teacher Elizabeth McNeil said her transition from teaching in a district without a cell phone policy to one where a ban has long been in place has been a “breath of fresh air” in removing “distraction and drama.”

“At my previous district, there were daily arguments about giving up phones and discipline problems, even when just asking a student to put their phone away,” she said.

“In a society where adults are addicted to their phones, it is encouraging to see that we are encouraging students here at MCPS to realize that their phones are not part of their lifeline,” McNeil said”

Parental approval

Beyond support from teachers, bans have largely been met with approval from parents, who acknowledge that devices that continually cause them distractions throughout the day shouldn’t be in the hands of their children during school.

Heather Gatny’s opinion has evolved on the issue, from trying to hold off on getting her son a cell phone until he is in high school to recently getting him one as an eighth grader for Christmas.

She likes the idea of him having one in his possession, even if it is kept off while he is in class at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, but stressed that in the classroom it can only cause distractions.

“If the kids were allowed to have their phones in the classrooms, they’d be looking at them the whole time,” she said. “I think that’s for the best for them to not have access to it, because they’re just on apps. They’re goofing around. They’re not paying attention to what the teacher is saying. They’re paying attention to what their friends are texting them.”

With two young children in second and fourth grades at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Sarah Krzyzanski said she is for cell phones being stored in a central location in the classroom for those who are concerned about students being able to respond to an emergency.

In the classroom, however, she said schools should be aiming to keep the focus on learning and not conditioning students to be dependent on having a cell phone by their side.

“These kids are at the point where they’re kind of addicted to that ‘ding,’ and they get to where they crave it, and it becomes an impulse,” she said. “I don’t believe that a child with a phone on their person has the ability to pay attention to the teacher and actually follow lessons and do it with enough of their brain engaged to be taking that educational content out the way that they should be.”

Study: Switching to Charter School Improves Performance for Special Ed Students

Lauren Wagner — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Students with disabilities who leave a traditional public school to enroll in a charter school experience improved academic outcomes along with their general-education peers, according to a new study. It’s a sign, researchers say, of the possible benefits of charter schools for some students who receive special education services.

The , published Jan. 13 from the , analyzed records from more than 1.7 million Michigan K-8 students who switched from a district to a charter school between 2013 and 2018.

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The nonprofit concluded that while students with disabilities spent more time in general-education classrooms and received less intensive services than their peers in traditional public schools, their standardized test scores increased along with those of their classmates who didn’t qualify for special ed.

Charter enrollment for students with disabilities has historically trailed behind that of public schools. While parents sometimes charter schools after poor experiences with traditional districts, charters also have a regarding special education. One found that charter schools may discourage parents from enrolling their children with disabilities because of concerns about how special education students impact overall academic performance and budgets.

But the results in Michigan show that children who receive special education services do well academically with fewer supports when they enter charter schools, “suggesting charters may have adopted, identified and developed approaches to teaching students with disabilities that warrant further study,” the research says.

“Charter schools can be a useful educational tool for parents with students with disabilities,” said Scott Imberman, one of the study’s authors. “They shouldn’t be quick to rule it out, because it does seem that, for at least a substantial segment of disabled students, charter schools are helpful for them — at least for their academic performance.”

The study found that math and reading test scores improved for both special education and general education students for at least two years after they enrolled in a charter school. Absence rates also decreased.

These findings match a in Boston, which revealed that children with disabilities who were accepted at a charter school through a lottery system were more likely to meet college-ready benchmarks than special education students in traditional public schools.

Imberman said that because children with complicated special education needs tend not to enroll in charter schools, the study’s results suggest students with less severe disabilities can thrive alongside the general-education population.

The study used students’ individualized education plans to see how special education services changed after enrollment in a charter school. Before switching, all students spent an average of 2.3% of their school day in a special education setting. The rate dropped to 1.2% immediately after entering a charter school but rebounded to pre-charter levels by the third year of enrollment.

Identification rates for special education students also mostly stayed the same — around 14.5% — when students switched, but then gradually increased. Two to three years after charter school enrollment, special education identification rates increased 1 to 2 percentage points.

The study also analyzed the use of resource and cognitive programs, two areas of special education services that are tailored to specific student needs. Resource programs often provide services to students who spend most of their school day in a general education classroom, while cognitive programs include more costly and intensive therapies, and students usually work with a designated special education instructor, according to the study.

Once Michigan students with IEPs switched from a traditional public school to a charter, participation in resource programs increased by 4 percentage points, while cognitive programming decreased by 5 points.

A key limitation of the study is that the research only shows what was written in students’ IEPs and what changed post-enrollment in a charter. It does not reveal whether the school actually followed through with required services.

“Our data also does not reflect the perspectives of students and families,” the study said. “It is essential that students with disabilities are included in future research on school choice to understand whether their needs are being met in different choice contexts.”

Recently, charter schools in and were found to have violated special education laws, and one in suspended students with disabilities at three times the state average.

Imberman said many charter schools aren’t set up to effectively serve some special education students, especially those with severe disabilities that require costly therapies and assistance.

“This is a large concern in the back and forth with traditional schools and charter schools, particularly when it comes to students with disabilities — that even if students with disabilities are entering charters, the ones who are most expensive are the ones who remain in the traditional public schools,” he said. “That creates a disproportionate burden on the traditional public schools.”

Whitmer Calls Literacy Her ‘Number One Priority’ for Final Year as Governor

Katherine Dailey — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 11:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

In a keynote speech at the Michigan Literacy Summit, held Tuesday at the Michigan Science Center, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that improving literacy rates would remain her top priority in her final year as governor.

“Helping every child read is tough. It’s a worthwhile goal,” she said. “It’s a long term project that will pay off in decades, not days. It’s a team effort that requires buy-in from students, parents, teachers and policy makers.”

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She referenced the increased implementation of the “science of reading” , which she signed in October 2024, as part of this priority. That law standardized literacy teaching methods across the state and implemented regular dyslexia testing for students up to third grade. She also touted the free school breakfast and lunch program, a key piece of the , and funding to reduce class sizes.

Michigan currently ranks 44th in the nation for 4th grade reading skills, Whitmer said, calling it a “crisis.”

“The vast majority of people in our state agree this isn’t the fault of any one person or any one policy or any one political party,” she continued. “I know how hard every one of our educators works every day, but we’re all feeling the impact of our literacy crisis.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko pose for a photograph before her speech at the Michigan Literacy Summit. Dec. 16, 2025. | Photo by Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance.

State Superintendent Dr. Glenn Maleyko, who officially the role leading the state’s department of education on Dec. 8, introduced Whitmer to a crowd of educators and advocates, who had gathered in Detroit for the day-long event that included panels with teachers and school leadership.

“What stood out to me the most was the governor’s genuine commitment to partnership,” Maleyko said. “She understands that improving outcomes for students is not about politics, it’s about listening, working together and staying focused on what matters most.”

This was Whitmer’s first public appearance since Michigan House Republicans nearly $650 million in spending for departmental projects, a move heavily criticized by Democrats as “untransparent” and “cruel”. While Whitmer’s press secretary shared similar criticism from the governor’s office, Whitmer herself has yet to make a statement on the cuts, and left the summit before speaking to the press.

Michigan School District Embraces New Approach to Teaching Kids to Read

Martin Slagter — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 11:30:00 +0000

The students in Emily Hoard’s first-grade class trace letters in their sand trays, then break down the sounds the letters make in simple words. This is what the science of reading looks like as Hoard and her fellow teachers at Stockbridge Community Schools in Michigan go all-in on their new approach to literacy instruction.

“The kids know exactly what to expect, and they’re so much more confident when they come to a word that they don’t know, or a big word in text, because they’ve been taught all of those little, tiny skills that they need, and the concepts of how words are made up,” Hoard said, who teaches at Emma L. Smith Elementary. “It’s not like a guessing game for them anymore.”

A small mid-Michigan district of 1,075 students, Stockbridge is among the first districts in the state to fully embrace training its teachers and building a curriculum that is supported by the science of reading, a body of research explaining how children develop reading and writing skills. This instruction relies heavily on phonics in the early years of schooling before building other essential skills like fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and the syntax of grammar and sentence structure in the later elementary grades.

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After the district’s teachers and literacy coaches on how to implement the curriculum, they built a new foundation to teaching literacy that helped third-grade students increase English proficiency by 12% on standardized tests.

Now in its second year of structured literacy strategies, including daily small group and one-on-one literacy interventions and games that are scored with data tracked in real time, Stockbridge Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Amy Hodgson said the new approach has worked so well, the district has implemented a similar teaching method in math through daily, classwide interventions.

Building those skills in the younger grades will help them have success across subjects as they get older, she said.

“If students don’t have fluency and automaticity in math or reading, it’s very difficult for them to have the cognitive load to access the higher skills that are being demanded of them in life and in standardized testing and in all these other places,” Hodgson said. “If I’m asked to do calculus, or if I’m asked to read a complex text, and I’m still sounding out words, there’s an exhaustion that comes with that.”

A shifting focus to phonics

The school district is part of a recent nationwide shift back toward phonics-focused curricula and rather than a balanced literacy approach that incorporates a “whole language” method focused on meaning and context of words.

While the two approaches should be seen in some respects as complementary and integrated, Harvard Professor of Cognition and Education Catherine Snow said they are typically pitted against each other, with schools choosing to change approaches when a new “literacy crisis” emerges.

“It’s kind of a pendulum shift every 15 or 20 years that you get some report saying our kids can’t read, and whatever is the dominant procedure at the time gets suppressed in favor of the other one, but in both cases, they go too far with it,” said Snow, an expert on language and literacy development in children.

“You can’t just do code-focused instruction, because you will drive the kids crazy and you will teach them that reading is about pronouncing words correctly, not about meaning. You can’t just do whole language instruction, because many kids need a little bit of help getting into the system. They need someone to explain to them very systematically.”

Along with 39 other states across the country, Michigan has embraced the science of reading, a buzz term that is neither a program nor an instructional approach, said Kim St. Martin, director of the Michigan Multi-Tiered System of Supports Technical Assistance Center and consultant to the Michigan Department of Education. Instead, it is a body of research schools can choose to build their curriculum, training and assessments around, she said.

In 2024, Michigan passed a pair of K-12 literacy laws aligned with this research in an effort to boost third-grade reading scores and better identify and support students with dyslexia. In addition to aligning its curricula and assessments with lists approved by the state’s Department of Education, notes that instruction must not include methods or curricula that emphasize memorizing words or prompt students to guess unknown words using pictures.

Commonly used within whole language and balanced literacy programs, this “three-cueing” system model relies on word meaning and sentence context; as such, it does not serve students well in learning the foundations of reading and writing, St. Martin said.

“If I’m a second-grader, when I’m reading the words, there’s nothing wrong with me having pictures in text for the purpose of me getting a visual representation in my mind of understanding what it is that this text is about,” St. Martin said. “What is inappropriate is if I’m using the picture to try to decode the word, because that would prevent me from understanding how to put together the letter-sound combinations to read that word.

“Unfortunately, there have been strategies that have been taught for several years that frankly, are causing kids to guess and to use those types of three-cueing strategies.”

Michigan has committed toward creating a committee that will vet curricula aligned with the science of reading and allow schools to purchase materials approved by the committee. The state also provided $34 million to train elementary teachers on how to teach the curricula via Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS), with more than 5,000 teachers and literacy coaches completing the training to date.

The laws and funding efforts are concentrated on providing teachers with the tools they need to teach all aspects of reading to young learners, Michigan Department of Education Literacy Unit Manager DeNesha Rawls-Smith said.

“We believe that it is foundational for students that are learning to read to decode unknown words,” Rawls-Smith said. “But again, we don’t believe that phonics, or word recognition in and of itself, makes a good reader. We believe that a good reader has the ability to recognize unknown words, and they have a knowledge about language. So together with word recognition and language comprehension, you have a reader that can read and understand what they’re reading.”

How a child learns best

After studying years of student achievement data, Stockbridge K-6 Literacy Coach Cindy Stacy learned the school was doing the same thing and getting the same results that were “not amazing.”

The district used state grant funds to invest in the , an approach initially developed to support students with dyslexia which has proven successful with other students as well. It worked with Institute for Multi-Sensory Education instructors to train its teachers and literacy coaches.

“Prior to this latest shift, most elementary education programs focused on balanced literacy,” Stacy said. “There was a small piece of phonics. There was a whole language approach. There were leveled readers. With the science of reading, the whole paradigm just shifted.”

While laying the initial groundwork was difficult, Stacy said mornings at Smith Elementary are now more intentional and bustling, with students reaching for their “OG bags” that allow them to trace letters into their own sand trays.

In Michelle Hedding’s kindergarten class, students are asked what sound letters make before tracing the letter in the sand tray. Different three-letter combinations are broken down by individual letters on a TV monitor, with Hedding asking students to pronounce the word before ultimately asking them if they’re “real or nonsense” words.

Kindergarten teacher Michelle Hedding works with her students during a reading lesson on Oct. 23, 2025. Stockbridge Community Schools’ Emma L. Smith Elementary is among the first schools in the state to align both curricula and training with what is being referred to as the science of reading. (Martin Slagter)

In grades K-5, students receive at least 90 minutes of reading and 20 minutes of writing instruction per day, Stacy said, with several who need more individual support pulled into small group or one-on-one intervention periods for 25-30 minutes. In grades 3 to 5, there is more focus on language and reading comprehension, vocabulary, background knowledge and verbal reasoning.

During intervention periods, literacy interventionist Amy Taylor will drill down on concepts like the sounds that different blends of letters make and how a “magic” e at the end of a word like face or home makes the preceding vowel in the word “say its name.”

Taylor, who has been with the district for 20 years, said the transition was difficult due to the belief from some teachers and staff that the use of sight words, or commonly used words children can memorize from sight, was an effective way to teach all students.

“My kindergarten class at the time, they were learning how to read — but the difference was, they didn’t know why,” Taylor said. “It was all memorization. They did not peel a word apart and talk about the different whys: why the word is ‘pinch.’ So, when we started the [new curricula], that was life changing for our learners and for us.… It’s just changed our whole way of looking at a child and how they learn best.”

Rosa Parks’ Story Didn’t End in Montgomery. These Students Are Proof of That.

Ebony JJ Curry — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 11:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

was originally reported by Ebony JJ Curry of . .

Seventy years have passed since Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery bus, and yet the country still tries to shrink her into that single moment — a tired seamstress who’d simply had enough.

Detroit, the city where she chose to continue her life, insists on remembering her differently. Not as an icon frozen in time, but as a Black woman whose lifelong organizing stretched from sexual violence cases in rural Alabama to open housing fights on Detroit’s west side.

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That fuller story — truth beyond the myth — is exactly what the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation has fought to tell for 45 years.

The Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation (RPSF) has awarded more than $3 million in scholarships to more than 2,250 high school seniors since its founding by The Detroit News and the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) in 1980.

“Most people actually don’t know the story of Rosa Parks,” said Dr. Danielle McGuire, RPSF board member, historian and author of “At the Dark End of the Street”, whose research permanently shifted how historians write about Parks and the civil rights movement. “She’s so much more interesting, so much more radical, and so much more involved in all kinds of things that we forget about. We keep her stuck on the bus in Montgomery in 1955.”

According to Kim Trent, a Detroit civic leader and former board president, the foundation, created through a racial discrimination lawsuit settlement involving Stroh’s Brewing Company, became one of the rare instances where federal accountability for racism produced long-term investment in Black futures.

A judge, DPS and The Detroit News agreed the money should honor Parks — who was living in Detroit and working for Rep. John Conyers at the time — by funding scholarships for Michigan students devoted to service and social change.

It is a statewide program, reaching students from Detroit to Grand Rapids to rural school districts where scholarship dollars often determine whether higher education is possible at all.

That framing makes her legacy active, not ceremonial.

“As part of her family, I feel grateful to be able to work together with my fellow board members to keep fighting for more opportunities to continue to provide scholarships,” said Erica Thedford, Parks’ great-niece and a foundation trustee. “I think Auntie Rosa would be extremely proud of what the Foundation has been able to achieve.”

The numbers tell one story — more than 1,000 scholars, millions awarded, forty $2,500 scholarships each year — and the essays tell another. Applicants must identify a modern social issue and explain how they would confront it using principles Parks embodied: discipline, non-negotiable dignity, community before self.

“Reading the essays of the students who apply is a great reminder that each person doing one act, no matter how small, creates a stronger network of love and kindness,” Thedford said. “Some of these students come from extreme hardship and still find the time and resources to volunteer at food banks, shelters… Some even take it upon themselves to be the organizer of ways to help the less fortunate at their schools.”

The award is one-time, not renewable, yet its impact stretches across decades.

“Once you become a Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation recipient, you are a Rosa Parks Scholar for life,” Thedford said. “These students are now part of a network of people who root for each other, and that kind of support system is important.”

Trent knows that firsthand: She was a Parks Scholar herself when she graduated from Cass Tech High School.

“I received the scholarship in 1987,” she said. “Ironically, not only did I get it, but my best friend… also received the same scholarship. And then her son got the scholarship like 30 years later.”

Trent said the scholarship’s origin mirrors Parks’ life — created in response to injustice and sustained through community action.

“It’s one of those rare occasions where something beautiful grew out of an instance of racism and oppression,” Trent said.

Over the years, some Parks Scholars attended community college. Others enrolled at flagship universities. All had to articulate how their education would serve a community beyond themselves.

Some, like Emmy-winning actor Courtney B. Vance, who’s from Highland Park, Michigan, went on to shape national culture. Others are now attorneys, educators and nonprofit leaders across the state.

“What gets lost in what she did is the reason she did it,” Trent added. “It wasn’t just so she could sit on a bus. It was because she was trying to open up opportunity for people who had been denied opportunity.”

That is the heartbeat of the foundation’s lineage.

Parks was not simply resisting segregation. She was rejecting the entire machinery that kept Black women from safety, education and economic autonomy.

McGuire’s research highlights how Rosa Parks was investigating sexual violence cases long before #MeToo, defending Black girls whose voices were dismissed in courtrooms and newspapers. She worked alongside the NAACP on equity cases. When she left Alabama under threat of death and moved to Detroit, she became the neighbor who knew everyone’s children, the church member who attended every meeting, the woman who collected information and names and needs.

“She was the person in the neighborhood who knew all the kids, who worked in almost every community organization you can imagine, to make life better for her people,” McGuire said. “The scholarship foundation is an example of that — just one of many.”

Every year, nearly 400 applicants encounter that fuller history — the Parks who fought for open housing in Detroit, who believed in Black self-determination, who, as McGuire notes, “never stopped fighting for equality and justice for people who didn’t have a voice that was being heard.”

That is not accidental. It is by design.

“We ask our applicants to become familiar with Rosa Parks and the tactics and strategies she used to make changes in her community and how they will do the same,” McGuire said. “I think it gives them hope. It links them to a tradition and a history of hope and change.”

This anniversary of Parks’ arrest arrives as school boards strip Black history from K-12 classrooms and as scholarship programs for marginalized students come under attack. Thedford sees the foundation’s work as a refusal.

“During this time, when we are hearing of funding being pulled from schools and programs that are needed to serve our youth, the Foundation is able to continue its provision of funds,” she said.

McGuire is blunt about what that represents:

“No matter how hard people try to cancel the past, the past is very much alive,” she said. “Rosa Parks’ history gives us so much honesty about America… and studying her is paramount to getting through any difficult time.”

Seventy years later, the lesson remains unchanged: Rosa Parks did not fight for a place to sit, she fought for the generations who would rise. Today, those students are still applying, still studying her strategies, still refusing to yield.

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Michigan Sees Record Free Preschool Enrollment, Yet Many Openings Remain

Lori Higgins — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 17:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

A record number of children are enrolled in Michigan’s free preschool program this year, the second in which the state has invested in making it available for all children regardless of income.

But programs across the state still have plenty of openings, a sign that many families don’t know the program is available.

During a press conference Tuesday morning, officials from the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education Advancement and Potential announced that 51,000 children are enrolled in the Great Start Readiness Program. That’s an increase of 8,900 over last year.

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During the 2023-24 school year, the last before the state launched its PreK for All initiative, 36,466 children were enrolled. A bipartisan effort in the Michigan legislature has invested additional money in the state budget to fund the expansion, which began with the 2024-25 school year.

The PreK for All initiative has been aimed at removing income and other restrictions on the Great Start Readiness Program, essentially allowing any child to enroll whether they are from a low-income home or not. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in her 2023 proposal to gradually expand to a universal preschool program in Michigan, said it would “ensure children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn.”

The expansion comes as Michigan’s K-12 system has faced criticism because students have struggled on state and national exams at a time when many other states are showing more impressive gains.

The Great Start Readiness Program is one of four preschool programs in which the state is expanding access by eliminating income restrictions. The others include the federal Head Start program, developmental kindergarten, and early childhood special education.

Beverly Walker-Griffea, director of MiLEAP, said families who enroll their children in PreK for All programs save an estimated $14,000 each year. That’s crucial, she said, “at a time like this, when the cost of just about everything is going up.”

Blake Kish is a parent of six children under the age of 8. Two have been enrolled in the Great Start Readiness Program at St. George School in Flint Township.

“The PreK For All has been a blessing, of course, for the household, but mostly for the kids,” Kish said.

“I recommend any parent that has a child that is 4 years old, get your child in this program. Get your kid in the classroom, give them that head start, give them the winning edge,” Kish said. “We are shaping the future of Michigan.”

Emily Laidlaw, deputy director for early education at MiLEAP, noted that “children who attend a high quality pre-K program are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college or career training and start their career strong.”

“Pre-K teaches critical social skills, including how to share, work and play together, and get along with others,” Laidlaw said.

Laidlaw said the state will continue to get the word out about the program to families across the state who have not yet enrolled.

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In Michigan’s UP, a Head Start Preschool Closes. Blame the Government Shutdown

Lauren Gibbons — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 19:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

After the federal government failed to renew a $1.5 million federal grant by Saturday, officials at the Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency say they had little choice: They closed a free preschool program that has served two counties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula since 1965.

The program was among that missed expected weekend payments because of the ongoing federal government shutdown. Unlike others, the UP program could not secure alternative resources in time to continue operations.

That means 85 students — along with 30 other families with children in Early Head Start — won’t be getting the education, meals and other services they rely on until funding is restored. And employees are currently out of work, program director Renee Pertile told Bridge Michigan.

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“We’re kind of one big family, and now it seems like a piece is missing,” she said. “It’s awfully quiet here today.”

Funded primarily by the federal government to serve low-income preschoolers and their families, Head Start programs in Michigan and around the country are among the latest to feel direct impacts from the government shutdown that’s dragged on for more than a month.

Coupled with the recent impacting 1.4 million Michigan residents, advocates warn the ongoing turmoil surrounding federal funding is putting vulnerable kids at risk.

While local schools and community groups can in some cases step in to help keep Head Start programs going, those resources are “not going to be universal, and it’s not going to be a one-to-one replacement,” said Bob McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan.

“The longer this goes on, the more damage it’s going to do,” McCann continued. “This is a crisis of choice by (politicians), and it’s kids that are paying the price for it.”

As of Tuesday, the Gogebic-Ontonagon program was the only confirmed closure in Michigan since Nov. 1, , which has so far reported 25 closures nationwide.

Education advocates warned other programs around the state that have missed grant payments are at imminent risk of running out of money, too.

Statewide, Michigan has 48 Head Start and Early Head Start programs that serve nearly 30,000 children, bringing in $423 million in federal funds annually, said Robin J. Bozek, executive director of the Michigan Head Start Association.

Nine of those programs serving 2,944 children, many of them in the Upper Peninsula and northern lower Michigan, saw their funding grants expire Nov. 1, Bozek said.

Though some of those programs have been able to piece together enough funds from local schools or community groups to temporarily keep them afloat, the lack of new federal funding means money is tight and the future is uncertain, Bozek said.

“Anytime there’s a pause or a stop…it totally disrupts the system for this type of grant,” she said.

For the Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency, there was no money to fall back on. When the grant didn’t come through, the Head Start program had to wind down.

“We started looking at this in mid-October, thinking, we’d better prepare just in case this was going to happen,” Pertile said. “As it got closer to the deadline, we knew that it was highly unlikely we would get our grant.”

In the short term, program employees are able to collect unemployment, and a local daycare offered to open up temporary slots to help care for kids who’d previously been attending the Head Start program, Pertile said.

The agency is also looking at the possibility of setting up a mobile food drive for local families in need, and Pertile is planning to provide weekly updates to staff and parents as they learn more.

Even if the shutdown ends tomorrow, it will still take some time to get operations back up and running, she added, noting that many Head Start participants in their rural community don’t have other options readily available for early learning programs, health checks and meals.

“The longer this goes on, the more concerned we get,” Pertile said. “Because we’re such a rural program, there are limited resources…they might be able to do it for a couple weeks, but then they might have to look for something more permanent.”

Looking ahead to next month, grants for another four Michigan Head Start programs will come up for renewal Dec. 1, Bozek said, meaning the financial pressures felt by Gogebic-Ontonagon and eight other programs could soon extend to others across Michigan.

Losing Head Start options would be “a huge hardship” to families whose parents need a safe place for their young children while at work, Bozek said.

But beyond that, she said, it would put early educators out of work and cut needy families off from a connector for additional resources, including food assistance, health care, and even warm coats for kids as the cold weather creeps in.

“When a Head Start program closes, it impacts the entire community,” Bozek said.

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Can Bikes Reduce Chronic Absenteeism for Detroit Students?

Hannah Dellinger — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:30:00 +0000

Some days, it takes Elyazar Holiday two hours and four buses to travel the 20 miles from his home on the far west side of Detroit to his school on the edge of the east side of the city.

The Detroit school district has limited yellow bus service, and none for most high school students. Like , the 17-year-old’s family car. Riding city buses to Davis Aerospace Technical High School is Holiday’s only option, but – with delays and missed buses – it .

Last year, Holiday received a gift from his school that made the trek easier: a bicycle.

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Principal Michelle Davis gave every student at the school a bike as part of a holistic approach to reducing chronic absenteeism. The bikes were funded through community donations.

Many of the nearly 100 students at Davis Aerospace last year said the bicycles helped them safely get to school by reducing the amount of time they had to walk to school or wait for buses. Others said the bikes gave them a new sense of independence, allowing them to travel around the city with their friends, get to after-school activities or jobs, and get exercise.

While Davis believes the bicycles improved attendance during good weather in the fall and spring, she said it’s only one measure the school is taking to get kids to class.

“Giving the students bikes is just one problem that we’ve solved for,” Davis told Chalkbeat. “What we do intentionally is solve for all of the problems that the kids have, because that has to be our major responsibility.”

The principal wanted her students to feel the same sense of independence she did as a teen when her mother bought her a pink Huffy.

So, Davis wrote “bikes” at the top of a white board next to her desk that lists her “big ideas.” And soon the vision came to fruition.

Other high schools in the district may also soon give bikes to their students. Last school year, the district surveyed high school students who were chronically absent about why they missed too much school. Some of the students said having a bike would help improve their attendance.

After the district’s school board , some members said they wanted the superintendent to follow up on whether a stock of “dozens” of bicycles in a storage warehouse could be used for that purpose.

Can bikes reduce chronic absenteeism in Detroit?

Chronic absenteeism, defined for Michigan students as missing 10% of the school year, has long been a problem in DPSCD. Issues such as high rates of poverty, , , and keep many children from missing crucial instructional time.

Students at Davis Aerospace say the bikes have helped address some of those barriers.

Holiday, for example, said his bike allows him to get to bus stops more quickly.

The first bus Holiday usually rides is regularly late by 20 minutes to an hour, he said.

If that bus doesn’t come in time, the teen has to decide whether he’ll go to another stop to try and catch a bus on a different route.

“I might miss those if I walk too slow, or I might be tired from trying to run to make it there,” he said.

Now, if the bus that runs on Plymouth Road doesn’t arrive, the teen can ride his bike to another stop. Or if Holiday isn’t able to catch a transfer due to delays, he can ride his bike the rest of the way to school.

“With the bike, I can still make up the distance or go to a different street to get on a different bus and still make it there on time,” he said.

His bike also makes him feel safer.

While violent crime rates have in recent years, many young people . Their sense of safety is shaped by many factors, including .

“A bike in itself is protection,” said Holiday. “You can use that to get away from the situation. You can use that as a barrier between you and something coming at you in the heat of the moment. You can even throw it.”

The bikes also help students left without a ride because their parents have to get younger kids to school earlier in the morning.

Myron Dean, a senior at Davis Aerospace, said while his parents take his five younger siblings to their schools, he has to get to school on his own.

With a bike, Dean can get to school in about seven minutes.

Dean is also using the bike to get to driver’s education classes so he can eventually drive himself and his siblings anywhere they need to go.

Junior Tryve Roberts said when no one in his family was able to give him a ride, he used to have to walk to school. It took about an hour, which would make him tardy.

Now, since he can get to school on the bike in about 16 minutes, he’s showing up on time more often.

and in other parts of the country suggest bicycles alone may reduce chronic absenteeism. Those who support the idea say using bikes to get to school gives more students access to transportation they otherwise wouldn’t have, can improve their health and well-being, and adds motivation for kids to improve attendance.

However, the successful examples proponents cite are in parts of the country with warmer climates, such as Florida, Tennessee, and Arizona.

At Davis Aerospace, the students are taught bike safety and instructed to not ride to school in poor weather conditions or during the winter.

There are nearly 165 miles of bike lanes in the city, , but not every neighborhood in the city has access to continuous dedicated bike paths.

Creating a culture of good attendance

DPSCD has made strides in in recent years. Several schools in the district have in reducing absenteeism.

At Davis Aerospace, the chronic absenteeism rate dropped by more than 14 percentage points last school year compared to 2023-24. Since 2018-19, the chronic absenteeism rate at the school fell by nearly 23 percentage points.

Even with that progress, more than 42% of Davis Aerospace students missed too many days of school last year. And the problem is more persistent in the district’s neighborhood schools.

For example, Denby High School, which is also on the east side of the city, had a chronic absenteeism rate of nearly 80% last year.

Some of Davis Aerospace’s progress may be due in part to the bikes, but the school had already been making steady progress in reducing absenteeism before that program.

“What we know is that there’s not just one thing that’s going to decrease absenteeism,” said Davis. “Every kid that has a barrier for attendance, we talk to those students. We see what the barriers are, and we solve for the student and their challenge to getting to school.”

At the school, which requires an application for students to attend, reducing absenteeism is ingrained in the culture.

A poster hanging on a brick wall by the school entrance tracks the daily attendance rate of each grade. Students who miss two days or fewer in the class with the highest attendance each month get rewards like cookies, nachos, or a movie day.

A room on the first floor of the school looks like a clothing boutique, except the clothes “for sale” are all marked “100% free.” Kids can grab the things they need to show up to school, like winter coats, gloves, and new shoes.

In another space, kids can get the hygiene products they need to show up ready to learn. There’s also a washer and dryer in the school where students can clean their clothes.

Davis said there are discussions around creating a parent carpool for kids who live near each other.

‘A form of freedom’

The gift of the bikes was not simply a pragmatic attempt to reduce absenteeism, said Davis. It was an act of love.

“When you’re a teenager, bikes are your first form of transportation, right?” Davis said. “It gives you a form of freedom. You explore the world with your bike.”

Junior Roderic Pippen said his bike helped him find a new hobby.

“I like to adventure on the bike – find new places to be at,” he said. “My bike trips are more fun than just sitting in the car, scrolling on the internet.”

Holiday will use his bike this year to attend biweekly events by the , a mentorship and college readiness nonprofit.

Before they got bikes, seniors Savannah Robinson and Ciana Carter felt stuck at home during summer breaks because their parents were busy with work.

Last summer, the girls had the freedom to ride to meet up and go to places like the beauty supply store and restaurants.

“Anytime she had a bad day over summer, I’d be like, come on, girl, let’s go ride our bikes and get fresh air,” said Robinson. “So it’s really helpful for both of us.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Outgoing State Schools Chief: Students Need More, Not Fewer, Instructional Days

Lori Higgins — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 18:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

On Friday, Michigan’s State Superintendent Michael Rice closes the book on a decades-long career as an educator.

Rice, who has been the state’s top education leader since 2019, paving the way for new leadership.

Glenn Maleyko, the current Dearborn Public Schools superintendent, . Until Maleyko starts, Sue Carnell, the chief deputy superintendent at the Michigan Department of Education, .

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Rice led during a difficult time, with the pandemic upending education not even a year into his tenure. Students performed worse on state and national exams, chronic absenteeism surged, and student mental health concerns increased. Academic recovery has been slow, and despite small gains across the board on the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress this year, third graders posted their worst reading scores in the 11-year history of the exam.

In a recent Chalkbeat interview, Rice talked about some key issues that are critical to improved outcomes for students, including his insistence that Michigan lawmakers must act to stop schools from being able to count seven professional development days as instructional days. He said that flexibility, and others, mean students across Michigan could be receiving far less than the 180 days of instruction that are required by law.

Here are four takeaways from that interview:

The state gives schools too much flexibility to reduce the number of instructional days

Rice has repeatedly asked Michigan lawmakers to change state law to ensure students are receiving 180 days of instruction.

Rice is concerned because in recent years, state lawmakers have added flexibility in the law that allows schools to count up to seven professional development days — days when teachers are training and students are not in school — as instructional days.

Professional development, Rice said, “is immensely important.”

“But prior to the 2019-20 school year, professional development did not compete with instructional time,” he said. “It now does. Children shouldn’t have to pay for professional development of staff with lost instructional days.”

Schools also can shift to online instruction — meaning students are taught virtually — for up to 15 days. While those are technically instructional days, pandemic experience demonstrated that many students struggle with virtual learning.

Meanwhile, classes can be cancelled for reasons beyond the control of administrators, such as snow days and emergencies that close buildings.

It’s unclear to what extent Michigan schools are taking advantage of the flexibility lawmakers have given them for counting professional development as instructional days or going online. There is no requirement schools indicate how many of their instructional days include this flexibility.

But Rice is convinced it’s a problem in part because “we wouldn’t have the challenges of getting it rectified in the state legislature.”

Michigan has some deep educational challenges, but there have been some wins

Michigan student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, has been flat, with little improvement while other states are making significant progress. Literacy, particularly in the early grades, has been a challenge on state and national exams.

There have been some encouraging signs, which Rice easily rattled off during the interview as he discussed progress on the . That initiative outlines eight ambitious goals to improve education in the state and includes expanding early childhood learning, improving early literacy achievement, expanding postsecondary learning opportunities, increasing the percentage of students who graduate from high school, increasing the number of certified teachers in areas of shortages, and providing adequate and equitable school funding.

Rice cited examples of progress toward those goals: Lawmakers have allocated additional funding for some of the most vulnerable children — students from low-income homes, students with disabilities, students who are English language learners — to provide more equitable school funding. Substantially more children are enrolled in Michigan’s free preschool program, and the graduation rate of 82% for high school students is the highest it’s ever been.

But challenges persist, and the state hasn’t fully achieved any of the goals.

“If I could paraphrase Frost, and I like my poets, we have miles to go before we sleep on all of the issues. There’s been progress made … on every goal area, arrival on none,” Rice said.

Michigan can learn from Mississippi’s policies that led to big reading gains

A lot has been said about how the state of Mississippi has seen significant improvement in fourth grade reading on the NAEP, while Michigan’s performance has been flat. Mississippi was ranked ninth in the nation in fourth grade reading this year, up from 49th in 2013.

In Mississippi beginning in 2014, Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (or LETRS) training was required for teachers in some state schools. LETRS is a professional development program based on the science of reading. The science of reading refers to a body of knowledge that emphasizes phonics along with building vocabulary and background knowledge. (Since 2022, training.) Those schools were also required to hire literacy coaches.

Michigan has provided some funding in the state budget for the LETRS training, and more than 5,000 teachers have completed the training and another 7,000 have begun it, but Rice and the State Board of Education wants Michigan to make it mandatory for K-5 teachers. He has pointed to Mississippi as an example of why that’s important.

“The training was a priority, and it was a fundamental part in our progress toward understanding how our students learn to read through instruction aligned to structured literacy,” said Jean Cook, a spokesperson for the department.

Mississippi paid for training for general education teachers, special education teachers, administrators, speech-language pathologists, and other speech-related personnel, Cook said. As the state efforts grew, Cook said, “the training became strongly suggested rather than required.”

Rice said Mississippi “has been more focused than Michigan has,” and has “leaned into high quality, research based early literacy materials long before Michigan did.” He said they also recognized the value of low class sizes in high-poverty schools in grades K-3.

And just as important, Mississippi hasn’t allowed the incursions into student instructional time that Michigan has.

Michigan, to be sure, has focused efforts on literacy. In 2016, lawmakers passed legislation — the — that required schools to identify and intervene with struggling readers. The law also required schools retain struggling third-grade readers based on their performance on the M-STEP, though the law allowed a number of exemptions. The retention part of the law was rescinded in 2024.

Last fall, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed that require the Michigan Department of Education to identify reading curriculum that align with the science of reading, require schools to screen children to identify those who are struggling with dyslexia, and require teacher preparation programs to include instruction on identifying and addressing dyslexia.

Teacher shortages improving, but it’s not over yet

Michigan investments are paying off in reducing teacher shortages. Rice said that when he became state superintendent, there wasn’t any money in the state budget to address shortages. Since then, the state has invested millions of dollars in a number of efforts, including stipends for student teachers, scholarships for those going into teaching, and funding for “grow your own” programs. There has also been growth in programs aimed at strengthening the current workforce.

Teacher shortages “really had gotten quite acute immediately prior to the pandemic, and then exacerbated during the pandemic. We’re coming out of this,” Rice said.

He said the state went from having 23,000 people preparing for the profession in 2011 down to 9,500 in 2017. But now, he said, “we’re up to 18,000 preparing for the profession annually.”

But shortages are still a problem.

“When you go into the communities that are the most challenged, and you look in the classrooms and when they don’t have shortages, when they don’t have openings, when they have fully credentialed, strong teachers in every classroom, then we can say the shortage is over.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .