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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.
Facing a crucial post-pandemic school year, Michigan leaders are exploring ways to bolster a dwindling teacher corps, from loan forgiveness programs to boosting starting pay.
With Michigan facing a widening teacher shortage, the state superintendent suggested a rule tweak with huge ramifications: waive the 150 hours of training ex-teachers are required to take to return to classrooms.
Michigan school superintendents are 95 percent white and less than 4 percent Black. And while teachers are 77 percent female, superintendents are 77 percent male. State leaders say it’s hard to find diverse candidates. Minority leaders see other factors at work.
Michigan schools must offer the annual standardized test, but, because of the pandemic, not all students have to take it. That could make the results less useful than normal.
A dinner among drivers and pre-K staffers forced quarantines just as students were set to return to school. It’s the latest example of the frustrating, sometimes futile efforts to keep Michigan schools open.
Michigan plans to distribute thousands of doses of the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine to public and private colleges in coming days, in hopes of immunizing students before they leave campuses as the school year ends.
Michigan schools must give the state standardized test, but fewer students might take it this year than normal. State education officials contend pandemic learning was too chaotic this year to yield an accurate portrait of student achievement.
Districts spotlighted in the audit couldn’t prove that new teachers had been assigned mentors or that teachers’ annual evaluations were based on a classroom visit — both of which are legal requirements.
Michigan’s standardized test is a few weeks away, and schools are preparing to administer it. But it still could be canceled because of COVID-19, and officials aren’t sure which students will be required to take it.
The number of Michigan teachers who are leaving classrooms is up 40 percent this school year compared to typical years, as the stress of pandemic teaching drives some to retire or resign.
The United Ways’ ALICE report, released Tuesday, illustrates the gulf in Michigan between having a job and having a job that pays enough to support workers and families. The most in-demand job going forward: fast food.
With coronavirus cases surging, some Michigan schools are temporarily moving back to online learning. There’s no sign of a statewide school shutdown, though.
The enrollment drop last fall was particularly pronounced among Black, Hispanic, and low-income students, groups hit hard by the pandemic and the resulting economic strain. See how college enrollment rates in your school district changed in 2020.
With just one month before students are to take the state M-STEP, it’s uncertain what test they’ll take, or whether Michigan’s read-or-flunk law for third graders makes sense during a pandemic.