While Michigan K-12 students are continuing to fall behind the rest of the nation, a study released this month by the Education Trust-Midwest found that Michigan schools show the largest decline in third-grade reading levels.
“So we have been declining compared to other states now for 15 years," Education Trust Midwest Executive Director Amber Arellano said. "We are in really a crisis, its real and its affecting all students in the state.”
Arellano joined other education leaders in Grand Rapids to discuss the challenges facing the state, including Grand Valley State University President Thomas Haas. Serving as the chair on Governor Rick Snyder's 21st Century Education Commission, 32 recommendations were made on how best to fix Michigan’s broken system.
Among the recommendations made by the commission included universal access to preschool education, governmental accountability and improved teacher preparation. Simply put, the whole system needs to be gutted and re-imagined.
“We need to in a bi-partisan, intelligent, thoughtful research manner, we need to sit down across political parties, business leaders, governmental leaders, educational leaders, and redesign the system,”the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency’s Superintendent David Campbell said.
Arellano says says she’s confident it can be done.
“Of course, absolutely, we are Michiganders," Arellano said. "We got through one of the worst recessions in the last 100 years, and we are going to get this too. It’s important to remember that we weren’t always a bottom 10 education state, and we are not always going to be.”