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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.
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Joe Biden’s $130B COVID plan may mean more tutors, summer hours in Michigan
The pandemic likely will increase achievement gaps. Michigan education advocates say schools need to start planning now for how to help struggling students, including more money for tutoring and summer school, priorities that align with the incoming Biden administration.
More F’s, more worries: Michigan school leaders rethink grading during pandemic
Halfway into the school year, Michigan students are failing classes at higher rates, concerning educators who say it’s more evidence of the coronavirus’s disruption of learning.
Gov. Whitmer urges Michigan schools to offer in-class learning by March 1
Ten months after she ordered all schools to close to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the governor said it’s time to plan for reopening classes. Recent studies show schools can remain safe with certain precautions, while there can be a heavy price for keeping children isolated.
Michigan teachers tackle Wednesday’s insurrection: ‘I don’t want my students to be alone’
Owen Bondono’s language arts classes were supposed to focus on text structures Thursday, but there was no way the Oak Park teacher was going to ignore the insurrection that took place in the nation’s capital the day before.
Blank screens, distracted students: Michigan teachers on COVID classrooms
Six teachers from across Michigan offered a sobering view of online instruction during the pandemic, from more students flunking classes to the deflating experience of teaching into a blank computer screen.
Best of Bridge Michigan: The top education stories of 2020
The pandemic forced Michigan schools to go remote. It didn’t always go well. This week, Bridge revisits its most impactful stories.
Detroit police working to de-escalate confrontations with the mentally ill
Years after other Michigan departments, the state’s largest city police force turns to specialized mental health training for officers.
Catholic high schools sue for exemption from Michigan COVID closure order
Arguing that state restrictions infringe on religious liberty, Catholic high schools are asking a federal court to allow them to decide whether to offer in-person instruction even as COVID surges through Michigan.
‘It’s been hell.’ 1 house, 5 kids, and a pandemic struggle to learn at home
Up to half of all Michigan K-12 students were taking all of their classes from home, with more added after the recent state coronavirus health order. Rural areas are particularly struggling.
Some Michigan schools will stay remote until January amid COVID
Michigan’s high schools are ordered to be closed through Dec. 8, but with another holiday just two weeks later, some school districts are choosing to not reopen until after the new year.
Report: Michigan’s most vulnerable students have limited learning options during the pandemic
The students who need in-person instruction the most are among the least likely to get it, new Michigan data shows.
Thousands fled Michigan schools in fall. Will COVID home-schoolers come back?
Michigan schools are uncertain how many students who’ve fled public schools during the pandemic will return when there is a vaccine.
‘How am I going to do this again?’: Michigan families squeezed as COVID cases skyrocket and classrooms shut down
The Troy School District in suburban Detroit shut down its in-person classrooms last week because of an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases. Just like that, life for the Onyx family was back to impossible.
Upper Peninsula students can’t exit COVID quarantine for football playoffs
Pickford is the reigning Division 1 eight-man football state champ, but it couldn’t beat COVID-19. School board members criticized for putting sports before student safety.
With teachers out from COVID, Michigan schools can’t keep classes open
With coronavirus cases surging across Michigan, schools are facing not only a health crisis, but a staffing crisis: There aren’t enough substitute teachers to replace classroom teachers who are infected or quarantined.
With COVID rising, Detroit closes classrooms; other districts may follow
Detroit had fought to keep its school buildings open, but the pandemic has caught up with the state’s largest district and its 51,000 students.
COVID spurs University of Michigan to close dorms, ask students to stay home
To try to head off another surge of coronavirus cases, U-M is encouraging students to stay in their hometowns next semester. The request comes as cases are skyrocketing in Michigan and nationwide.
Classroom or home? Michigan schools, families still struggle to choose
Some Michigan schools are bringing students back to classrooms, while others are preparing for possibly going virtual. No decision is easy — or permanent — during a pandemic.
Michigan revamps K-12 schools website to make comparisons easier
Michigan parents and educators who want to dive into school data now have a streamlined and updated website to use, part of Michigan’s effort to make it easier to find school information.
As more students head back, here’s what we now know (and still don’t) about schools and COVID spread
There has been no effort from the federal government to systematically track school openings and COVID outbreaks. That means we are often relying on data from those who volunteer it, and lack good information about how schools that have reopened might differ from those that have not.