Changing policies to report fewer outbreaks in Michigan schools won’t reduce infections among kids, but it will provide less information to worried parents.
Scores fall, in some cases alarmingly so. But educators caution against reading too much into results from a year in which students were in and out of classrooms.
If Michigan’s experience is similar to other states, brace yourself for lower standardized test scores and bigger gaps between racial and income groups, caused by the pandemic.
Michigan schools are investing heavily in summer school to accelerate learning. They are hiring reading, math and behavioral specialists (and a few drones) as students transition back to classrooms.
The board, by a 6-2 vote, rejected a non-binding resolution by Republican members to prevent schools from requiring masks, COVID tests or quarantining unvaccinated students. One GOP member was in tears.
Some Michigan school districts are opening full-time, online schools as an alternative to traditional classrooms, on the belief that not all families will want to return to school buildings this year.
Michigan families would have had access to $1,000 scholarships for outside-of-school tutoring to help elementary reading skills. School leaders questioned whether the scholarships would help students most in need, or those with the resources to find tutors.
Taxpayers spend $4.4 million for a standardized test that is supposed to help employers know who is qualified for jobs. One problem: Few employers use it.
