New Report: Michigan Lags Behind in Education

Michigan ranks in the bottom half of the states (33rd) in education, according to the latest Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This annual review of child well-being ranks each state overall as well as in four domains of child well-being: economic security, education, health and family/community. Overall Michigan ranked 32nd among the states, down from 30th the last two years. (In the Midwest, Michigan outranked only Indiana.) Michigan’s ranking in the Education domain was 33rd, second lowest behind Economic well-being.

What components drove this ranking?

  1. Less than half of children ages 3 and 4 in Michigan attend preschool,
  2. Only three of every 10 of the state’s fourth-graders could demonstrate proficiency in reading—with no significant change between 2005 and 2011.
  3. Poor performance in 8th grade math and on time graduation rounded out the indicators.

While Michigan outcomes stagnated over the trend period, other states improved so the state’s ranking dropped from 25th to 33rd among all states on reading, 19th to 24th on preschool attendance and 30th to 34th for math.

These trends do not bode well for Michigan’s economic future. Education is key to economic security. Michigan’s drop in per capita income ranking coincided with the loss of low education/high wage manufacturing jobs.

We talk the talk in Michigan but we don’t walk the walk!

While Michigan continues to drop nationally, we must realize that Detroit’s numbers are much worse. Detroiters, however, realizing that we cannot allow this to continue any longer, have embarked on an educational turnaround strategy through Excellent Schools Detroit (ESD). D3 is proud to be its data partner. There are many exciting plans and we, in conjunction with ESD, the Midwest Education Trust, and many other partners will be keeping you informed. Stay tuned.

We must get this right for Detroit’s kids! We must get this right for Michigan’s kids!

Read more at the Detroit Free Press and Mlive