A Call to Action for Michigan Students
As students across Michigan return to classrooms for a new school year, I’m thinking about one question: Are we doing enough to ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed?
The latest M-STEP results answer that question. In 2026, just 38.2% of Michigan third graders scored proficient or above on the M-STEP English language arts assessment and only a third of Michigan seventh graders scored proficient or higher in math. Students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, English learners, and Black and Latino students demonstrate proficiency on the M-STEP at rates below their white and more affluent peers. Our broader academic picture remains troubling: Michigan ranks 44th nationally in fourth grade reading and 33rd in eighth-grade math based on 2024 NAEP scores — our students deserve better.
These results are not a reflection of what Michigan students are capable of, rather, they demonstrate the lack of supports, funding, and conditions that Michigan students need to thrive. These results also serve as a call to action for policymakers to do everything possible so that every student can thrive.
How Can Policymakers, Advocates, and School Leaders Improve Student Outcomes
Strong literacy skills are foundational to everything that follows, from success in middle and high school to access to rigorous coursework, college, careers, and economic opportunity. Michigan’s FY27 budget, passed in July, continues significant investments in evidence-based literacy, tutoring, educator training, and student supports. As advocates, we must ensure that those efforts are continuously funded, implemented properly, and translate into stronger outcomes for our state’s students.
The same urgency applies to college and career readiness. Every student should leave high school prepared for a meaningful next step, yet students’ access to advanced coursework, dual enrollment, advising, and postsecondary opportunities remain uneven across our state. A key recommendation in our “Ready for Rigor” report is for district leaders to adopt “opt-out” policies that automatically enroll qualified students into advanced coursework, which would eliminate unnecessary hurdles for our state’s students and promote more accessible pathways.
Later this fall, EdTrust-Midwest will release “Going for Gold: Setting the Standard for Michigan Achievement,” our 2026 State of Michigan Education report. For us, going for gold means setting a standard worthy of our students’ potential and doing the sustained work necessary to meet it. Across 23 measures spanning academic outcomes, college readiness and success, student well-being, fair funding and more, we ask a simple but ambitious question: What would it take for Michigan to become a national leader in educational excellence and equity?
We know Michigan can get there. We celebrate the many educators, parents, policymakers and advocates who are currently working together to improve outcomes for all Michigan children. We’ve progressed in some key areas, but we have more work to do. Let’s start with setting our bar high because we know that’s what our students deserve.
