DEAR FELLOW MICHIGANDERS,

Michigan is truly at a crossroads. After years of struggling to recover from the Great Recession, Michigan is beginning to rebuild its economy. More Michiganders are getting back to work and using their many talents to serve their families and communities. Storefronts, once dark, are blossoming with new life in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and elsewhere across the state.

Our public education system, however, is not on the rebound. Over the past ten years, our state has fallen behind much of the rest of the country on national education rankings. Since 2003, Michigan’s relative rank has fallen from 28th in the nation to 38th in fourth-grade reading. In fact, our fourth-graders now read at lower levels today than they did 10 years ago. Compared to their peers around the country, Michigan’s African American students now rank 42nd of 45 states in fourth-grade reading while our Latino students rank at about the national average.

What’s more, if Michigan stays on its current course, our state could fall to the bottom ten states for student learning in both reading and math by 2030, according to Education Trust-Midwest’s new analysis. Within the next five years, if nothing changes, Michigan will be trying to catch up with what had been America’s chronically lowest-performing education states, like Arkansas. Michigan’s white students are now on track to be 49th in the country before 2030 in fourth-grade reading. 

From the Michigan Achieves Report which can be found Here: http://michiganachieves.com/AnnualReport2015_Web.pdf