FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Mrozowski, Senior Director, Strategic Communications & External Relations for EdTrust Midwest

November 10, 2026

Michigan Students Can’t Wait: New EdTrust-Midwest Report Highlights Deep Educational Inequities
New EdTrust-Midwest Report Calls on State Leaders to Raise the Bar on Education to Dramatically Improve Student Outcomes

DETROIT, MI — Michigan students face significant barriers to academic success, leaving the state in the bottom 10 in the nation in fourth grade reading and near the bottom in eighth grade math. Our state’s students continue to face persistent inequities that limit opportunities and pathways, according to a new State of Michigan Education report, Going for Gold: Setting the Standard for Michigan Achievement.

Through new analyses across five indicators — academic outcomes, college readiness and success, student well-being, opportunity to learn, and fair funding — EdTrust-Midwest researchers found that Michigan outcomes remain too low and progress remains too uneven, particularly for students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, and English learners.

This new report by EdTrust-Midwest warns that despite progress and investments in public education, the state falls short in ensuring that all students have the supports and resources to reach their full potential and calls on state leaders to make educational excellence an urgent priority and close longstanding opportunity gaps.

“We cannot settle for an education system where a student’s background or ZIP code determines their opportunities,” said Brian L. Love, EdTrust-Midwest state director. “Going for Gold means raising our expectations, building on the investments we’ve made, and ensuring every student has access to the resources and support they need to succeed. Our students deserve nothing less.“

Researchers conducted comprehensive, equity-centered analyses on 23 education measures across the five indicators and identified where progress is being made, where improvement can accelerate, and where more attention is needed to close longstanding opportunity gaps.

Key findings from the report include:

• Academic achievement remains far too low: Michigan ranks 44th nationally in fourth grade reading, with only 38.2% of third graders proficient in reading and 33.3% of seventh graders proficient in math.
  • Outcomes were lower and more troubling for students of color, students with disabilities, students from low-income backgrounds, and English learners.
• Dual enrollment participation remains below 10%, meaning that not enough Michigan students have access to the benefits of taking college coursework in high school.
  • Dual enrollment participation was 8.5% in Michigan’s less diverse districts, which is three percentage points higher than participation rates in districts serving more students of color.
• Students lack critical supports: Michigan’s chronic absenteeism remains too high, while schools average approximately 565 students per counselor, more than double the recommended ratio.
• The average student-to-counselor ratio is 339 students higher in schools with the highest concentration of poverty.
• Michigan’s teacher workforce does not reflect the racial diversity of its students. Students of color make up 38% of the student population, but teachers of color only make up 13% of the teacher workforce.
  • Although this representation gap has narrowed modestly since 2021, substantial disparities remain in districts where there are majority students of color and higher concentration of poverty.
• School funding inequities persist: Districts serving the highest concentrations of students from low-income backgrounds received approximately $1,728 less per pupil in state and local revenue than districts serving the lowest concentrations, and these disparities are most heavily driven by local funding gaps. Michigan also faces a $1.74 billion gap in special education funding compared with research-based recommendations.

Despite these challenges, the report highlights important progress in high school graduation rates, advanced coursework participation, college affordability, and investments in student supports and fair funding.

As Michigan prepares for a new governor and legislature, EdTrust-Midwest is unveiling a bold state policy agenda that sets the course for a gold standard education for all Michigan students. The agenda calls on state leaders to protect and expand targeted school funding; strengthen evidence-based reading instruction through educator training, high-quality materials and student supports; and build supportive schools by investing in educator recruitment, retention, diversity and access to counselors. It also recommends expanding access to advanced coursework and dual enrollment while sustaining college affordability investments and strengthening public reporting on student outcomes and school spending to ensure resources reach the students who need them most.

“Michigan has an opportunity to become a national leader in educational excellence and equity,” Love added. ” Our leaders have shown a strong bi-partisan commitment to increase investments in public education and close opportunity gaps, while making key policy decisions to improve early literacy. But we have to do more. Now is the time to set a gold standard for Michigan’s students — and make the transformational investments and policy changes necessary to get us there.”

Read the Report