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Talent & 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
Michigan House passes A-to-F school grades but nixes new commission
In what appeared to be a compromise to get votes, a politically appointed commission with broad powers over Michigan schools was downgraded to an “peer review panel.” Bill now goes to Senate.
Michigan may soon rank schools A-to-F. Will it help? Nobody knows.
Would hanging a scarlet letter on a struggling school improve learning? Michigan might find out, if a bill now being considered in the Legislature passes.
Once embarrassed by its graduation numbers, Wayne State becomes a model
Graduating less than half your students in six years doesn’t seem worth bragging about. Until you see the trend line. WSU just won a national award for improving grad rates, particularly for black students.
Free tuition brings more low-income students to the University of Michigan
Michigan has struggled for years to get low-income students to enroll. A program offering free tuition to Michigan students from families earning under $65,000 a year may have done the trick.
Some colleges are unaffordable for many qualified students
Even as net prices begin to fall at some schools, many families are priced out, according to college cost data now available for universities across the country.
Hey college applicants: Harvard will reject you. And that’s OK.
High school seniors (and their parents) are too stressed about getting into top universities. But acceptance into the “right” school matters less than what students do on campus, says New York Times author Frank Bruni.
Got a beef with Michigan’s social studies standards? Help rewrite them
The Michigan Department of Education is asking for volunteers to figure out how controversial proposed changes to the state’s social studies standards should be changed, or not.
A final meeting, and Michigan’s social studies standards head for a rewrite
No gay rights. No Roe v. Wade. No Climate Change. That could change, after the Michigan Department of Education was inundated with complaints about social studies revisions for K-12 students.
Muskegon kids struggle to read. Their superintendent had the same problem.
Muskegon Superintendent Justin Jennings read at a third-grade level when he entered college. So he knows the challenges schools face as they prepare for Michigan’s third-grade “read or flunk” law.
Michigan is failing its students, as state test scores keep tanking
M-STEP results show 1-in-3 third-graders are not proficient in reading. The bad news extends across grades and subjects, impacting white, black and Hispanic students. What should state do now?
Database: Check out your Michigan school and district M-STEP scores
See how students in your schools performed in reading language arts, math and other subjects this past school year
Yes, you can pay rural Michigan college grads to come home
Tired of seeing their best and brightest head to college never to return, three Michigan counties offer to pay up to $15,000 of student debt for grads who come back for jobs. Counties in other states are taking notice.
Rural Michigan begs for workers. A few companies are getting creative.
With more than 100,000 unfilled jobs statewide, rural manufacturers often lose out in the scramble for skilled trade workers. Can added lures like company daycare, health clinics or cash bonuses turn the tide?
In Jackson, school choice bring new reality: students as fickle customers
Jackson loses 40 percent of school-age children to other districts and charters. How districts respond illustrates the free-market educational system for Michigan families, and the budgetary challenges districts face.
Where they stand: Michigan candidates for governor on K-12 education
Perhaps no issue is as important to Michigan’s future as improving the state’s schools and increasing the number of post-secondary graduates. Here’s how the candidates answered questions from Bridge.
Where they stand: Michigan governor candidates on college affordability
Some Michigan governor candidates want to make college free, others want to emphasize career tech. Here’s what the candidates facing primary challenges are saying about the rising cost of college.
Why rural Michigan teens are skipping out on college. It's not grades
If Michigan is going to deepen its talent pool, it needs to figure out how to get more rural high school grads onto campuses, and how to keep them there.
To get first-generation students to college: Could the answer be…a bus?
While other universities struggle to get rural and first-generation students to apply, Central Michigan University came up with a surprisingly simple solution: foot the bill to bring busloads for campus visits.
Public outcry delays Michigan social studies standards
Proposed changes in what’s taught as history in classrooms from kindergarten through high school are causing an uproar. The state is extending public hearings through September.