If you care about Michigan, please support our work.
Donate TodayTalent & Education
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
Preschoolers, older college students win in Whitmer education budget
Michigan’s governor proposes a big move toward universal pre-K and free training and college for adults in a budget that includes the biggest school aid increase in 20 years. State university funding? Meh.
Access to career-tech in Michigan varies by ZIP code. That’s a problem.
Low-income and minority students have less access to career-tech programs in high school than other students, according to a new study.
Michigan schools revolt: We won’t flunk struggling third-grade readers
In what amounts to a mutiny against Michigan’s “read-or-flunk” law, school districts around the state tell Bridge they don’t plan to make students repeat third grade because of poor reading scores.
Gov. Whitmer launching effort to undercut Michigan’s third-grade reading law
An estimated 5,000 students could be flagged to repeat third grade because of low reading scores. In her State of the State address, Whitmer will unveil a plan designed to help parents get around the Republican-backed law.
Students drinking less at MSU and U-M, but still more than national average
Fewer college students are binge drinking at Michigan’s two Big Ten universities. One possible reason: campaigns to correct students’ “Animal House” perceptions of their school’s drinking culture.
If you drink at college, follow these tips to avoid serious danger
Binge drinking is declining nationally as awareness of the dangers of excessive drinking increases.
Michigan offers little help for child care. That may change in 2020
A critical mass of business, political and education leaders pushes for reforms to increase child care access and affordability for low- and middle-income Michiganders.
University of Michigan provost accused of sexual misconduct
Several people have made sexual misconduct allegations against Martin Philbert, a longtime fixture in Ann Arbor and former dean of U-M’s School of Public Health.
Michigan residents say they oppose uncertified teachers leading classrooms
A strong majority of Michiganders say the state must reduce the number of schools relying on long-term substitutes and find ways to ensure trained teachers are educating students, Bridge Magazine polling shows.
Michigan inches toward universal pre-K as leaders support 2-year kindergarten
With bipartisan support in Lansing and a push from parents, two-year kindergarten programs are growing across the state, effectively leading the state toward a form of universal preschool.
A look back at our most impactful Michigan education coverage in 2019
A wedding planner teaching science. Flunking kindergarten to save on daycare. Protests to keep a high school. Our top 2019 education stories revealed how money and anxiety are quietly reshaping Michigan education.
Michigan leaders join forces to reform schools. Can it work this time?
Business leaders, teacher unions, charter schools and philanthropies are now saying the same thing: We have a plan to improve our schools. In Michigan, that’s news.
15,000 Michigan kids take two years of kindergarten. Is Lansing listening?
More families, most of them white and more affluent, are enrolling children in two years of kindergarten, saving child-care costs and giving schools more state money. In effect, parents are stepping in when Lansing won’t.
Choice of Michigan college can make a (million-dollar) difference
A college degree still pays off, but pays off more at some universities than others, according to a new study. Compare the return on investment at Michigan two- and four-year colleges.
Community college costs soar in Michigan. Blame sinking state aid.
The cost of attending a community college varies widely in Michigan, with schools in suburban Detroit half the cost of colleges elsewhere in the state.
Detroit Chamber: Metro students must finish degrees to find good jobs
The Detroit Regional Chamber’s first State of Education report bemoans high dropout rates in postsecondary education, leaving students with debt but not the credentials to get solid jobs with local employers.
After 3 years of substitute teachers, this Michigan girl may flunk 3rd grade
Sabrina, 8, is caught in the crossfire of two state education crises – the state’s new third-grade “read-or-flunk” law and an explosion in the use of uncertified long-term substitute teachers in state classrooms.
Why do Detroit kids miss so much school? Hint: Don’t just blame the schools
A new Wayne State University study finds that factors outside of school have a huge impact on school attendance, such as asthma, poverty and crime rates.
In Detroit, going door-to-door to get students back in school
If you miss too many days of school in Detroit, be prepared for a knock on the door.
Michigan expanded preschool funding. Reading scores show it works.
The good news: Low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds who enroll in the Great Start Readiness Program become better readers than those who don’t. The bad news? One-in-three qualified kids still aren’t enrolled.