Education leaders alarmed over lagging Michigan reading, math scores, Trump education plan
While federal lawmakers consider slashing billions of dollars from the federal education budget, Michigan education leaders are once again sounding the alarm on public school students' lagging academic achievement, which puts the state in the bottom half of the nation for both fourth grade reading and eighth grade math, according to a new report.
The report is an annual analysis from EdTrust-Midwest, a Detroit-based advocacy organization that has long tried to capture the moment in the state's public school system in its state of education reports.
The organization has found in this year's report that Michigan ranks 44th in fourth grade reading and 31st for eighth grade math, two barometers researchers use to measure academic standings of public K-12 school students. The statistics underscore growing unease by some education advocates over President Donald Trump's proposed education plans, which include a cut to federal funds.
"It is unquestionable that we are at an urgent moment and that we must do something, and we're doing something by being strong advocates for our children," said Alice Thompson, chair of the Detroit Branch NAACP's education committee.
And this year especially has marked a shift in the way policymakers, education leaders and more have talked about academic outcomes. While the past four years have focused on pandemic school closures and those closures' meteoric collision with education, leaders have begun to point out that students were lagging before "COVID-19" became a recognizable term. Instead, the data shows how the pandemic widened achievement gaps and complicated student outcomes, experts say.
"We were just kind of going along, not really strengthening reading for our kids," said Jen DeNeal, director of policy and research for EdTrust. "We were just kind of barely keeping pace. And then when a huge catastrophe like the pandemic hit, our kids didn't have the foundation they needed to sustain that learning."
EdTrust's report puts Michigan in the bottom five states nationally for pandemic learning loss in reading since 2019, just ahead of Florida, Oklahoma, Delaware and Nebraska, behind North Carolina and West Virginia.
The academic struggles are more pronounced in the scores of Michigan's Black and Latino students, as well as students with disabilities, according to the report. Students from low-income backgrounds, Black and Latino students, fell at least 10 percentage points below the state's third grade reading average on the state M-STEP test, according to EdTrust's analysis.
And DeNeal said the losses are similar among types of districts across the state, meaning rural areas are struggling similarly to suburban areas and cities in student proficiency on assessments.
"What we can see is that across all of these locales is: The kids are still behind," DeNeal said. "And, in fact, in suburbs and towns, in rural areas and in small and midsized cities, we still see some of the largest gaps between where kids were in 2019 ... in 2024."
Teacher Appreciation Week 2025: Deals, free food and discounts for Michigan educators
The organization's report calls for a larger state investment in education, including an infusion of $2 billion over the next five years to fully fund its newly created opportunity index, which targets funding for schools serving higher proportions of vulnerable students. The report also calls for stronger fiscal transparency and accountability laws, to better account for where schools spend money.
Mike Jandernoa, the founder of an investment firm in Grand Rapids, said it is critical that business leaders support public education because the system creates future workers. More transparency will help parents and leaders alike trust the system and know that it needs strong funding from the state, he said.
"We have one of the weakest systems for accountability and transparency," he said. "Most parents have no idea of the challenges that we face, so it's important that we're able to communicate the need and the message to the rest of the state."
More: Trump's budget hits Michigan with education, housing, community development cuts
Trump's proposed skinny budget would, overall, slash $163 billion from the federal budget. But for now, the proposal is just that — a plan that's not set in stone. Nationwide, education spending would be cut by $12 billion under the plan, which would consolidate some spending streams into what are called block grants, which supporters say would give schools and states more flexibility in their spending.
The plan doesn't touch two major federal funding sources: the main portion of Title I funding, meant to boost schools that serve the highest proportions of disadvantaged students, and the primary federal funding for students with disabilities through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA sent about $460 million to schools in Michigan in 2024, or about 15% of the funding for special education services, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy.
However, the proposed cuts do call for eliminating or consolidating funding for programs for English Learners, adult education, migrant education and some early childhood programs. Amber Arellano, executive director of EdTrust-Midwest, said the proposal drastically eliminates accountability measures for federal education spending, potentially taking safeguards away that would make sure the funding is spent on vulnerable students who need it the most.
"We are now, I think, facing as a state — and I've never used this term to describe the moment that we're in — potentially catastrophic consequences for schools, especially schools with significant percentages of low-income students," she said.
Free Press staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report.
Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump education plan could make Michigan scores worse, advocates say
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