The outcry against the hate displayed in recent days in Charlottesville will fade. It is easy to be outraged when racism is marching up the street waving a bright red flag. As a parent, a Latina and the leader of an organization that celebrates diversity and relentlessly advocates for…

Analysis Shows Opportunities Realized and Lost in Michigan Budget Earlier this month, Governor Snyder signed a new school aid budget for fiscal year 2018, which begins in October 2017. A new analysis from The Education Trust-Midwest focuses on key opportunities realized and lost through the state budget. Education and…

Education and equity advocates have much to celebrate in this budget, including additional dollars for our most vulnerable students. Despite this progress, changes made to the state assessment should be concerning to all Michigan students, parents and educators. Since early 2017, the governor and state legislature have been debating…

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (June 22, 2017) – Proposing to go back to the days when Michiganders had no idea how their schools were truly performing compared to other states, today the Michigan state legislature adopted the fiscal year 2017-18 state budget with language that risks Michiganders’ access to honest…

Why We’re Worried About Assessment Changes…And Why You Should Be Too Last week, Ed Trust-Midwest summarized the highlights, and lowlights, of the proposed state budget. One of the concerns that we raised centered on language that would require the Michigan Department of Education to change state…

Mixed News for Students in New Michigan Education Budget, Especially for Low-Income Students and Students of Color Michigan’s new budget provides reasons for worry and celebration for students – especially for low-income students and students of color. Equitable access to rigorous instruction is one of the most important…

State's M-STEP Implementation Shows Major Progress Last week, Michigan students finished the third round of annual state assessments using the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP). While data from the assessment will not be publicly available until later this summer, one thing is clear: Michigan has…

School Chiefs on Critical Assurances for School Choice Last week, a bipartisan group of reform-minded district and state superintendents, with extensive experience with charter schools and other forms of school choice, issued a statement on any proposal for the expansion of school choice, such as the Trump Administration’s…

Letter grades show school quality By Amber Arellano, Sandy Baruah, Dan Quisenberry and Doug Rothwell The following excerpt is from an article that ran in The Detroit News on May 19. The full text is available here. Report card time. You open the envelope, or perhaps the email, and see…

Amber Arellano Sixty-three years ago this week, the United States Supreme Court shocked the nation by publicly stating what so many Americans already knew: that separate is inherently unequal. Through their landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the court formally ended our nation’s practice of…

Amber Arellano, Sandy Baruah, Dan Quisenberry and Doug Rothwell The Detroit News Report card time. You open the envelope, or perhaps the email, and see a ‘B’. You have a good sense of how your child is faring in class. Unfortunately Michigan is not nearly as clear about the…

Michigan wants its ESSA plan back? Why a Lt. Gov. asked for a do-over The following excerpt is from an article that posted on May 11, 2017 on The 74 Million. The full text is available here. Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley has one message for U.S. Secretary…

Funding Equity of Chief Concern among Black and Latino Parents In communities of color, there is an overwhelming sense of school funding inequities. Ninety percent of Black parents and nearly sixty percent of Latino parents do not think that schools in Black and Latino communities receive the same amount…

College Decision Day Yesterday marked College Decision Day – the date when deposits are required for fall admission at many colleges and universities – and a day to celebrate the educational accomplishments of many Michigan students. Since 2007, Michigan’s dropout rate has been reduced by 41 percent and nearly 80…

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (March 21, 2017) – The proposed budget for Michigan’s public education system includes important investments for promoting quality and equity. For better results, however, education funds should invest in evidence-based strategies and monitored through the robust collection of data. In Opportunities in Michigan’s State…

In little more than a decade, Michigan has gone from a fairly average state to the bottom ten states for key subjects on the national assessment. It’s a devastating fall. Over the coming months, the state has an important opportunity for change in the crafting of the Fiscal…

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (March 14, 2017) – This morning the Education Trust-Midwest urged State Superintendent Brian Whiston to stay the course on implementing the thoughtful school accountability and public reporting system recently proposed by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) as part of its Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA…

Ed Trust explores that question and identifies top- and bottom-performing institutions ROYAL OAK, MICH. (March 2, 2017) – More African American students are enrolling in four-year colleges and universities than ever before. But what happens to these students after they arrive on campus? Do they obtain the degrees…

by Brian McVicar, MLive Changing Michigan's standardized test could "undermine" a new school accountability system proposed by the Michigan Department of Education, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan education policy and research group. The Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress is the…

New report finds both encouraging and troubling aspects of Michigan’s new education plan; Michiganders have critical opportunity for input now   ROYAL OAK, MICH. - (March 1, 2017) – Michigan’s new plan for improving student achievement shows significant progress in some areas, yet it also disregards best practice in other…

ROYAL OAK, MICH. - (March 1, 2017) – Michigan’s new plan for improving student achievement shows significant progress in some areas, yet it also disregards best practice in other areas. These findings -- from a new report by The Education Trust-Midwest (ETM) -- come as the Michigan Department of Education (MDE…

by Cheryl Corpus High academic standards are needed now more than ever. Growing up in a rural, blue-collar town here in Michigan, I often struggled to understand my place in the community. Being half-Filipino—my mom came to the United States from the Philippines when she was 18…

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (Feb. 21, 2017) – According to a new analysis of national education data, Michigan is last nationally for growth since 2003, and among bottom ten states nationally for student proficiency in fourth and eighth grade reading and math.  The analysis from the Brookings Institute further enforces the importance…

  John B. King, Jr. to Serve as President and CEO of the Education Trust  Esteemed former Massachusetts charter school leader, former U.S. Secretary of Education and Commissioner of Education of New York State announced today  ROYAL OAK, Mich. (Feb. 2, 2017) - David V. Britt, chairman of the Board…

Crain's Detroit Business by Amber Arellano Whatever you think about President-elect Donald Trump, it's clear that he has signaled a dramatically new direction for the role of the U.S. government in public education — one that will push ever-more decisions to the states. That means the…

by Amber Arellano, Bridge Magazine Whatever you think about President-elect Donald Trump, it’s clear that he has signaled a dramatically new direction for the role of the U.S. government in public education—one that will push ever-more decisions to the states. That means the importance of…

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (Jan. 17, 2017) – Earlier this evening, Education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos answered questions from U.S. Senators during her confirmation hearing. If confirmed, DeVos will become U.S. Secretary of Education at a critical time, as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) begins to take effect…

Over the last fifteen years, Michigan’s rank has fallen dramatically in early reading and math student achievement compared to the rest of the country. While the impact is felt across the K-12 spectrum, our most vulnerable students are ultimately most disadvantaged. With nearly half the students in our…

Huffington Post, by Amber Arellano This letter first appeared in The Education Trust-Midwest’s weekly Michigan Education Update on November 22, 2016. Sign up for weekly updates here. Dear Friends, Like you, my organization is deeply troubled by widespread reports of racially charged bullying, intimidation and harassment that…

                     October 10, 2016   Members of the Michigan State Board of Education, As you consider plans to comply with the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), our organizations wish to convey our strong opposition to replacing the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP).  Once approved…

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (Aug. 30, 2016) – New results from the Michigan Student Test for Educational Progress (M-STEP) emphasize how critical it is for Michigan to continue providing honest and transparent data on student learning and school performance, according to Amber Arellano, executive director of The Education Trust-Midwest. Continuing…

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (June 2, 2016) – The founder and CEO of the national Education Trust Kati Haycock will speak today to Michigan and national business and civic leaders at the Mackinac Policy Conference. Haycock, a nationally renowned advocate for vulnerable students, will speak on the importance of funding equity…

by Amber Arellano and Ken Whipple Michigan is facing a historic moment for the state and its children, a moment when our citizens and leaders must choose whether we will make Michigan a top education state again, or whether we will continue to suffer a dramatic demise. In little more…

by Brian Cloyd and Ken Whipple, Bridge Leaders of the business community care about education in Michigan not just because they’re trying to be good corporate citizens. It’s also because business leaders are connecting the dots between investment in education and its impact on the economic future of…

State's 4th-grade reading ranking falls from 28th to 41st in nation and could fall more, Education Trust-Midwest warns by Crain's Detroit Business Michigan's education quality is falling farther behind the rest of the nation from a perch that was already low, according to a…

Business leaders’ voices are needed to help improve schools ROYAL OAK, Mich. (MAY 19, 2016) – Calling on Michigan’s top business leaders to be a thoughtful voice in solving the state’s educational crisis, today the non-partisan Education Trust-Midwest released new report that shows Michigan is falling…

Michigan is at great crossroads – a historic moment when our citizens and leaders must choose whether we will take advantage of major new opportunities to become a top state economically and educationally once again – or face a continued and dramatic decline that will relegate the state and its citizens…

by Rachel Weick, Grand Rapids Business Journal Michigan’s statewide charter school system’s report card remains low compared to other leading academic performing states. In its latest report, Accountability for All: 2016, The Education Trust-Midwest has proposed implementing the first statewide performance-based accountability system to hold Michigan…

by Amber Arellano Behind the Detroit schools crisis lies a troubling charter school sector. As Detroit Public Schools' teacher sick-outs and mounting debt capture the attention of press around the world, it might be easy to conclude money alone will solve the Motor City's educational woes. The truth…

by Valentina Korkes, Education Post Being from Michigan, generally, is a wonderful thing. Great people, Great Lakes, you get the picture. When it’s not so wonderful, however, is when you have to explain to other Michiganders that, in some other states, people actually like charter schools. There are states…

Detroit Free Press Gov. Snyder and would-be education reformers in both parties talk ad nauseum about holding allMichigan’s schools accountable. But charter schools, which now serve 145,000 K-12 students in Michigan and vacuum up more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds – remain maddeningly insulated from public…

by Amber Arellano and Sunil Joy With roughly half of Michigan’s charter schools ranking in the bottom quarter of all public schools for academic performance, it’s clear that the state has a serious charter performance problem. The challenge is particularly acute in Detroit, where the issue has wreaked…

Michigan charter school authorizers’ performance overall has improved marginally over the last year, but remains terribly low compared to leading states’ charter sectors, according to Accountability for All: 2016, The Broken Promise of Michigan's Charter Sector. The report celebrates high-performing authorizers and sheds light on the devastatingly…

Michigan is truly at a crossroads. After years of hard work to recover from the Great Recession, Michigan is beginning to rebuild its economy and many of our fellow Michiganders are getting back to work. While our recovery is fragile, there are economic signs of hope blossoming this spring…