Grand Rapids Child Discovery Center, Grand Rapids, MI (Photo: Erik Holladay)
Equity-Driven • Data-Centered • Student-Focused
Michigan, It’s Time We Pay Attention!
Decades of research tells us that Michigan’s economic future and cultural vitality depends on the quality of our educational system, from pre-K through college, and recent achievement results from around the country provide hope and many lessons for Michigan to take to heart.
The mission of The Education Trust-Midwest is to ensure that every Michigan student is learning at high levels. We work to forever close our state’s tragic and intolerable achievement caps.
After taking a look at what leading education states are doing, we have outlined an agenda that will help put Michigan on the path toward educational recovery. This includes:
High Expectations for All Michigan Students
The Education Trust-Midwest offers numerous resources for policymakers, educators, parents, community leaders, and others who share our goal of high academic achievement for all students. Transforming that vision into a reality takes meaningful data, models of success, and tools for change.
Statewide educational improvement is possible – and within our grasp. By making a sustained, comprehensive commitment and investment in the levers we know work, Michigan can get back on track.
Top Ten For Education: Not By Chance
Michigan is at a critical moment in time — a historic moment where our citizens and leaders must choose whether we will take advantage of new opportunities to become a top ten education state — or face a continued and dramatic educational decline. Today, national data reveal that Michigan’s public education system is among the…
Opportunities Realized and Lost: Equity and Excellence in Michigan’s Budget
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 the…
OPPORTUNITIES IN MICHIGAN’S STATE BUDGET: ADVANCING EQUITY IN PUBLIC EDUCATION
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 Year 2017-18 state…
Becoming Top Ten: An Analysis of Michigan’s ESSA Plan
In little more than a decade, Michigan has gone from being a fairly average state, to among the nation's bottom ten states in critical measures for student learning. It’s a devastating fall. And students of color and low-income students—long poorly served by the state—are suffering the most from the…
Michigan’s Talent Crisis: The Economic Case For Rebuilding Michigan’s Broken Public Education System
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…
Accountability for All: 2016; The Broken Promise of Michigan’s Charter Sector
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 low performance…
Michigan Achieves: Summary
To become a top ten education state by 2030, Michigan needs to focus on and invest in the highest leverage strategies and learning opportunities for students. To be sure, there' a lot to do, and we can't do it all at once. That's why it's important to stat where…
Michigan Achieves: Becoming a Top Ten Education State
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.Our…
Accountability for All: The Need For Real Charter School Authorizer Accountability In Michigan
National Association of Charter School Authorizers | The Skillman Foundation | Michigan PTA | Grand Rapids Public Schools | Excellent Schools Detroit | StudentsFirst Michigan | Democrats for Education Reform - Michigan | MinnCAN | Innovate Public Schools Today in Michigan, educators and schools are held more accountable…
Massachusetts Fact Sheet
Massachusetts State Strategy Brief Published: July 15, 2014
Tennessee Fact Sheet
Tennessee State Strategy Brief Published: July 15, 2014
Stalled to Soaring: Michigan’s Path to Educational Recovery
State of Michigan Education report — “Stalled to Soaring: Michigan’s Path to Educational Recovery” — is the result of months of research and a year of Ed Trust-Midwest’s efforts to monitor where Michigan is making progress on improving public education.The report findings include: Michigan now ranks in the bottom five…
Supporting Michigan’s Teachers: Smart Implementation of High Standards, Training, and Educator Evaluation
Michigan students continue to fall behind their peers in other states in learning. According to 2013 national assessment data, an appalling 69 percent of Michigan fourth-graders cannot read on grade level – an indicator of future academic success. Neither our students nor our state's economic future can afford to…
Invest in What Works: An Education Road Map for Michigan Leaders
As an organization made up of Michiganders, we know well how our parents once prided themselves on the quality of our state’s public schools. Sadly, we have little to be proud of today. Our state’s educational performance is lackluster by practically any reliable measure.In this report, we lay out…
Good for Teachers, Good for Students: The Need for Smart Teacher Evaluation in Michigan
As Michigan student achievement continues to fall behind a growing number of other states, it’s clear that Michigan needs to support teachers better to improve instruction. Developmental feedback, in the form of a well-crafted, annual teacher evaluation, is an important first step toward that goal. Echoing their peers in…
Strengthening Michigan’s Teaching Force
Michigan teachers have one of the most important roles in our state’s and children’s future. Yet as a state, we have neglected to build strong feedback and support systems that our teachers need to improve their practice. Instead, we treat our teachers as if they are interchangeable.Michigan’s schools aren’t…
Michigan No Child Left Behind Waiver Analysis
The U.S. Department of Education has offered Michigan a rare opportunity to devise new educational systems that better serve our state’s students, families and educators. In return, Washington is offering to waive some provisions of No Child Left Behind. For instance, states will no longer have to ensure that…
What Our Students Deserve: Facing the Truth About Education in the Great Lakes State
An honest look at public education in Michigan reveals both hopeful and dismal news. While our state has taken a few bold steps in the past year to improve our education system, our students still lag far behind their peers nationally, and the performance gaps between them — across…
Teacher Evaluation in Michigan
Valuable and meaningful professional feedback is one of the cornerstones of growth as a person and as a professional. In healthy workplaces, there are clear and common standards of performance. Employees are regularly evaluated against these standards and provided with timely feedback to help them improve. Not only are…
Improving and Supporting Michigan’s Teaching Quality
As any parent knows, teachers matter. A teacher’s effectiveness has more impact on student learning than any other factor controlled by school systems, including class size, school size, and the quality of after-school programs—or even which school a student is attending. In Michigan, our teachers often do not get…