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To prosper, Michigan must be a more educated place. Bridge will explore the challenges in education and identify policies and initiatives that address them.
Articles
Unconscious students on hospital gurneys: A Game Day diary
Universities are spending millions to curb dangerous drinking. Yet blackout partying persists in a puke-and-rally culture. Bridge investigates what works, and what doesn’t, in the ongoing battle to keep college students safe.
Stone-cold sober on game day? It really happens
When the subject of campus drinking comes up, university officials at schools all over Michigan make sure to point out that thousands of students on their campuses don’t drink at all.
Career Navigation Solutions Summit Agenda
What's the best way to help students make decisions about post-secondary education and careers? And who should provide career navigation and guidance? What do the experts say? Join us October 5 and add your voice to this important discussion.
Michigan residents demand better college, career advice
Our students deserve better counseling to prepare for life after high school, whether they are pursuing a college degree or career. Residents are keen on requiring school counselors to receive training in college and career advice.
Residents bullish on job training, and want employers to carry load
Residents say additional training, apprenticeship and internship programs will give young and older workers a boost.
Michigan wants Lansing, schools to lead on college affordability
Michigan residents believe strongly that students need a college degree or job training after high school to succeed. Yet the high cost of college has many questioning whether the loan debt is worth it.
Residents like these programs to reduce college costs
Michigan residents are intrigued by initiatives to earn free college credit and shave debt burden.
Legislative preview: Lansing tackles teaching, roads and inmates
It’s back to work for Michigan’s Legislature. A Bridge guide to the biggest issues lawmakers are likely to face this fall
School of choice, or a revolving door?
A Michigan policy allowing families to pick a school outside their home district for their kids to attend is wildly popular. But a first-of-its-kind study raises questions about who it helps – and who it might be hurting.
Worried about Michigan’s switch to the SAT? Six reasons to calm down
Free, online prep and fee waivers should help relieve anxiety over Michigan’s new college admission test
How one West Michigan school district is closing reading gaps for poor, Hispanic students
Through focused early literacy efforts, the West Ottawa School District is taking children with little to no English-language skills and preparing them to compete with white, more affluent peers.
Rich school, poor school, and the challenges that separate them
Waukazoo Elementary draws students from affluent lake homes. Pine Creek kids come from Holland’s poorest neighborhoods. In ways large and small, Waukazoo kids benefit from their families’ extra income.
Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program ‘significantly’ increases college grad rates, study finds
Ten years after the launch of the nationally lauded program, researchers can say for the first time that the money was well spent, with many more Kalamazoo students earning college degrees than would have without the scholarship.
Does Kalamazoo Promise success build case for more state scholarship funding?
Make college cheap enough, and more people graduate. Who knew?
Study offers financial, policy road map for Michigan education reform
A blunt new report lists ways to fix Michigan schools. Will anyone listen?
One Dearborn school soars. Another stumbles. Why?
A test result is a snapshot, and in Dearborn, one elementary school came out with a surprisingly better portrait than another in the critical milestone of third-grade reading. Why? Nobody seems to know.
Grand Rapids cites the limits of state rankings to explain school gaps
Why do some low-income elementary schools in Grand Rapids perform better than others? Educators in Grand Rapids say that ranking formulas often do not reflect critical differences between seemingly similar schools.
One teacher, 25 kids and the enormous challenge of turning around Detroit schools (Chapter 1)
The state is in the midst of yet another fix for Detroit’s troubled schools. So this spring, Bridge spent time in William Weir’s social studies classroom to get a sense for what works, and what doesn’t, for one Detroit teacher.
One teacher, 25 kids: For struggling students, a push to 'dream bigger' (Chapter 2)
For third- and fourth-graders with limited reading skills, a teacher must take creative measures to make lessons stick.