The Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan, data-driven education policy, research and advocacy organization, has released its 2018 State of Michigan Education Report, providing analysis and recommendations to improve our education outcomes.

Ed Trust-Midwest has provided data and insights to CMF’s Board of Trustees and most recently CMF’s P-20 Education Affinity Group around third-grade reading level improvement.

Ed Trust-Midwest launched the Michigan Achieves campaign in 2015 in an effort to make Michigan a top 10 education state. This latest report is based on nearly two years of research and is aimed at further catalyzing action to improve our education system.

Ed Trust-Midwest’s new analysis and state data reveals:

• “Michigan third graders showed the greatest decline in third grade reading compared to other states participating in the same assessment consortium, despite nearly $80 million of targeted state investment to improve reading outcomes.”

• Michigan is one of only five states in the U.S. that has seen a decline in fourth grade reading performance for all students since 2003.

• Ed Trust-Midwest shares that other states have adopted higher standards for teaching and learning which have resulted in improving literacy outcomes.

• Only 44 percent of all Michigan third graders are proficient in reading.

• 29 percent of low-income students are proficient in third grade reading.

• In 2016-2017, 20 percent of African American students in Michigan were proficient in third grade language arts on the MSTEP.

• 32 percent of Latino students were proficient in third grade language arts on the MSTEP.

The report highlights a successful intervention that’s underway in West Michigan to improve outcomes for high-poverty third graders. Ed Trust-Midwest’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) was created in collaboration with the Steelcase Foundation, a CMF member.

CETL is in partnership with Grand Rapids Public Schools and Wyoming Public Schools, who are working with educators to better support instructional practice, collaboration and professional development. Three of the five elementary schools working with CETL are among the top improving schools in the state.

The hope is that this program and others can be modeled across the state to improve outcomes.

The report shares additional recommendations for Michigan’s education. Highlights:

• The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) should reevaluate models for teacher professional development.

• Conduct data collection and evaluation of the state’s early literacy investment.

• Prioritize quality alignment of early childhood programs and K-12 in terms of curricula, standards, data, educator training and instruction.

• Implement a quality statewide educator evaluation, feedback and support system based on leading state models and provide capacity for districts to deliver annual evaluations and feedback.

• Don’t modify or drop the statewide assessment MSTEP, as it provides quality benchmarking data showing how Michigan’s outcomes are trending compared to other states.

• Deliver a statewide strategic plan for early literacy.

• Develop comprehensive support and guidance to districts in providing additional instructional time for students with an explicit responsibility around improving student outcomes.

• Provide transparent reporting on the state’s top and lowest performing schools, including schools that are not serving the needs of students of color and low-income students.

The report shares that other states have models, much like the CETL program that was modeled from another state, that we can learn from and implement in Michigan to improve student learning.

CMF is working with Ed Trust-Midwest and others to facilitate discussions regarding potential next steps as this plan, and others emerge.

Amanda Price, chair of the governor’s Michigan Pre K-12 Literacy Commission, shared with CMF that there are a number of efforts around the state to improve literacy outcomes including the Reading Now Network (RNN) which is a coalition of 100 school districts in West Michigan who are working to increase reading outcomes by identifying best practices in schools to replicate those practices in other schools.

Want more?

Read 2018 State of Michigan Education Report.

Learn more about the Michigan Achieves Campaign.

Connect with CMF’s P-20 Education Affinity Group.