Opinion | Preserve Pathways to Potential, a vital way to support Michigan children

One of Michigan’s largest and most effective student support programs is at imminent risk of ending. As a program funded under the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) budget, our state’s elected officials can save it.

For over a decade, Pathways to Potential has been quietly transforming Michigan's most under-resourced schools by addressing student needs before they become crises. This program, with its dedicated success coaches embedded in schools across the state, has consistently generated meaningful results: improving attendance, reducing grade repetition, and connecting families to vital resources.

Since it began in 2012, Pathways to Potential has expanded from 21 pilot schools to 240 schools statewide, touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of Michigan students. Success coaches address barriers to attendance by connecting students and families with school resources, community services and directly enrolling them in MDHHS programs. The barriers that success coaches tackle range from simple material needs like a student needing an alarm clock to complex issues like housing instability and parent underemployment.

The evidence is compelling. In its first year, the original pilot schools saw a 9% decrease in chronic absenteeism (i.e., missing 10% or more school days). By the 2016-2017 school year, the program had made over 130,000 interventions and addressed basic material needs in more than 20,000 cases. Between 2012 and 2017, participating schools reduced chronic absenteeism from 53.2% to 39.7%. More recent data show that Pathways to Potential schools decreased chronic absenteeism by 10.4% in just one year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019), compared to only 1.1% statewide.

Beyond these numbers, the positive influence of Pathways to Potential is expansive. In Kalkaska, success coaches created an incentive program that helped students get to school regularly while encouraging active play. In Detroit, success coaches developed partnerships with other local organizations to keep students safe in school and the community. In St. Clair County, a success coach helped secure a $5,000 grant to meet the basic needs of students and their families. Across the state, success coaches have created mentoring programs, provided school supplies and celebrated students’ accomplishments all towards supporting K-12 students’ learning, growth and safety.

Our research team at the University of Michigan School of Social Work is currently conducting a rigorous evaluation of Pathways to Potential. Preliminary findings suggest the program effectively prevents both chronic absenteeism and child physical neglect among students in Michigan's most economically disadvantaged schools.

The proposed FY 2025-2026 budget includes plans to eliminate Pathways to Potential and instead introduce family resource specialists within child welfare services. Family resource specialists would help families apply for assistance and access other resources when brought to the attention of the child welfare system, and this strategy represents an important step toward supporting families in crisis. However, Michigan's children and families benefit most from a comprehensive strategy that includes both prevention and intervention. 

Pathways to Potential and the proposed family resource specialists serve complementary roles in a complete support system. The success coaches prevent problems from forming or escalating, while the family resource specialists would help families already experiencing severe difficulties. Rather than choosing between these approaches, Michigan has an opportunity to maintain a balanced continuum of support.

Maintaining Pathways to Potential alongside new intervention programs would provide Michigan with a more robust framework to address the complex challenges facing our children and families. This comprehensive approach aligns with both fiscal responsibility and compassionate governance—addressing needs at every stage rather than focusing solely on crisis response.

As lawmakers finalize budget priorities, we encourage continued investment in Pathways to Potential while also supporting new family resource initiatives. Together, these programs can ensure that Michigan's children —especially those facing the greatest obstacles — have the support they need to thrive.