On Friday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the creation of the Return to Learning Advisory Council, formalizing a process for determining how schools may be able to reopen in the fall. The panel – which will be comprised of students, parents, frontline educators, administrators and public health officials – is tasked with providing the COVID-19 Task Force on Education with recommendations on how to safely, equitably and efficiently return to school in the fall.

As the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation shared on Facebook, it has granted $130,000 to CMF to help state health and education leaders create a roadmap for reopening Michigan’s K-12 schools. The funds will allow the state to draw on the expertise of Opportunity Labs, a national nonprofit organization, to develop a safe and equitable plan for Michigan students' return to school.

Dr. Mario Ramirez, managing director of Opportunity Labs, a practicing emergency physician and former acting director of Pandemic and Emerging Threats with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Ebola epidemic said, "We look forward to supporting the advisory council in its work to ensure the safest possible return to school in the fall."

This is an important next step as the transition to remote learning has further highlighted inequities and challenges facing Michigan students, leading philanthropy, communities and business and education organizations to develop innovative solutions to support education now and in the future.

Launch Michigan, in partnership with Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative and Public Policy Associates, Inc., is currently conducting a comprehensive analysis of Michigan’s COVID-19 educational period with a goal of identifying innovative and effective educational, parental and social-emotional distance learning practices to scale for Michigan’s children. The study will include reviews of each school’s continuity of learning plan and focused conversations with educators and parents, as well as surveys of educators, parents and workforce-related community members. 

“We believe it is critical Michigan leaves behind the systemic inequities that existed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and feel that significant improvement can be made in Michigan’s ability to scale educational practices for children in all publicly-funded schools,” Adam Zemke, president, Launch Michigan said. “The Launch Michigan coalition is starting with a comprehensive study to learn from Michigan’s field of educators and will be working to help lift up and scale practice improvements for the summer and start of the fall academic year.”

Data gathering to help guide future supports and plans for learning is also underway at The Education Trust-Midwest. The group has launched a survey for Michigan parents and guardians to determine what is and is not working in the new remote learning environment. The Ed Trust-Midwest says that information shared by parents will help inform Michigan educators and policymakers, and is critical to understanding how school closures are impacting student learning at home.

According to Chalkbeat Detroit, 500,000 Michigan children lack access to computers or reliable internet access required for remote learning. While the digital divide has long been an issue in Michigan, statewide remote learning while schools are closed requires urgency in addressing the divide.

“We’ve always known about it. Now, it’s taken on a whole new meaning.” Casandra Ulbrich, president, Michigan State Board of Education said. “It would be a shame not to use this as an opportunity to try to address this divide.”

In an op-ed published by The Detroit News, Launch Michigan steering committee co-chair Tonya Allen, president and CEO, The Skillman Foundation and steering committeee member Chris Wigent, executive director, Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators describe the digital divide as Michigan’s next educational frontier. “This pandemic should elevate for us all that we can no longer let the inequities in Michigan’s education system linger and persist,” Allen and Wigent wrote. “Having made the call for education equity—and now technological equity for all students—Launch Michigan will help lead the charge.”

Last month, CMF reported that DTE Energy, Quicken Loans, The Skillman Foundation, the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), the city of Detroit, General Motors, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Detroit Branch NAACP formed Connected Futures, which contributed $23 million to provide computer tablets and internet access to DPSCD’s 51,000 students.

Most recently, the Mott Foundation granted $163,000 to Flint Community Schools to purchase 800 mobile Wi-Fi hot spots and 1,500 digital security applications for Flint students.

“This technology is necessary to ensure students are still learning and part of a community even when they can’t physically be in a classroom,” Ridgway White, president and CEO, the Mott Foundation told MLive. “We know an access gap exists, and we hope this grant gets us a step closer to eliminating it.”

K-12 students are not the only focus of philanthropy’s work to close the digital divide. The Skillman Foundation made a grant to Oakland University to provide laptops to students impacted by COVID-19.

Districts are also taking steps to ensure student learning in a remote environment. Kalamazoo Public Schools has loaned laptops to all of the district’s high school students.

“More than a short-term solution to help students continue their learning during the coronavirus crisis, this is a step toward bridging the digital divide to ensure everyone has the tools and opportunities needed to get a 21^st-century education and lead their best—and our best—future,” Allen said.

Want more?

Read Chalkbeat Detroit’s article on Michigan’s digital divide.

Read Launch Michigan’s op-ed on digital access for students.