Education Trust–Midwest

Many Michigan Students Not Meeting Higher MEAP Standards

Posted February 15, 2012 - 5:15pm by djacobs

ROYAL OAK, MICH. (February 15, 2012) – The Michigan Department of Education released the 2011 Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) results today, which revealed that many Michigan students are not achieving at high levels. While Michigan students showed slight gains in reading and math from 2010, declines in writing, social studies, and science underscore the state’s lagging academic performance. And the results in some districts for African-American, Latino, and low-income students were nothing short of miserable.

In 2011, 67.7 percent of Michigan’s fourth-graders were proficient in reading. A mere 29.4 percent of eighth-graders were proficient in math. These numbers actually represent improvements from 2010. In other subjects, 2011 marked a decline for Michigan students, with lower scores in fifth-grade science and sixth- and ninth-grade social studies.

New Report: White and Higher-Income Student Achievement in Michigan Losing Ground to Other States

Posted February 9, 2012 - 6:20am by djacobs

ROYAL OAK, MICH. (February 9, 2012) – A new report by The Education Trust-Midwest shows Michigan’s higher-income and white students’ achievement has declined significantly compared with other states. While the poor performance of low-income and minority students has been the subject of intense debate in the past year, national data show Michigan students – from all socioeconomic backgrounds – have lost ground to their peers across the nation since 2003.

In fourth-grade math, for instance, Michigan’s white students have fallen from 13th in the nation in 2003 to 45th in 2011 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). White students now rank behind 34 states and the District of Columbia in fourth-grade reading – an important predictor of future achievement.

Ed Trust-Midwest Statement on Michigan Charter School Expansion Vote

Posted December 15, 2011 - 1:29pm by djacobs

ROYAL OAK, MI (December 15, 2011) – Today the Michigan legislature passed Senate Bill 618, which will expand charter schools in Michigan. While we support Senator Phil Pavlov, the bill’s sponsor, in his efforts to improve our state’s public education system, we are deeply concerned the legislation did not include language that would have ensured that new charter school expansion will be one of high quality for all of our students.

Leading states such as Ohio make sure quality is a deciding factor in the expansion of existing charter schools and operators. Our students in Michigan deserve the same assurances of quality schools as do the children of Ohio and other states. Even when considering for poverty, there is dramatic variation in Michigan charter schools’ quality.

Statement to the Michigan Governor’s Council on Educator Effectiveness

Posted December 8, 2011 - 10:09am by djacobs

The Education Trust-Midwest thanks the Governor’s Council members for dedicating their time to this incredibly important work – and to Senator Phil Pavlov, former Rep. Tim Melton and Rep. Margaret O’Brien and the other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who provided so much thoughtful leadership on the issue of teacher evaluation. The Education Trust-Midwest is a non-partisan education policy, research and advocacy organization focused on improving public education for all Michigan students, particularly for low-income children. While many organizations advocate for what’s best for the adults in our education system, we advocate for what’s best for students, based on research and data.

Ed Trust-Midwest Statement on the 2011 NAEP TUDA Reading and Math Results

Posted December 7, 2011 - 10:27am by djacobs

ANN ARBOR, MI (December 7, 2011) – Detroit’s student achievement continues to be devastatingly low -- and has changed very little since 2009 -- according to today’s release of results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The NAEP’s Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) for fourth-grade and eighth-grade reading and math shows Detroit’s performance is abysmal, ranking last in fourth-grade math, fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math. Detroit ranks second to last in eighth-grade reading. Detroit’s African American performance, which ranked last in 2009 for fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading, continues to be last in fourth-grade math. Though Detroit Latino students’ scores increased slightly in fourth- and eighth-grade reading, they are still performing far below the national average.