Written by By Sen. Aric Nesbitt:
The test scores are in, and the results paint a clear picture — Michigan is facing an education crisis that is failing students and families. According to recently published results of the 2024 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) — the state’s summative assessment given to students each spring — a staggering number of Michigan students are struggling to read at grade level.
Just 39.6% of the state’s third graders were proficient on the M-STEP English test, a troubling drop from the 46.7% proficiency rate scored in 2019 and the lowest score in the 10-year history of the assessment. That’s right — three out of every five third graders in our state can’t read proficiently, which is a dramatic failure.
State education officials are scrambling to make excuses, but the failure is clear and sudden. In fact, a January report by Harvard and Stanford University found Michigan students lost almost half a grade level in reading and math between 2019 and 2023.
Yet, at the very time families need advocates in the Legislature working to support struggling students toward achievement and success, Lansing Democrats have chosen to eliminate a very effective element of Michigan’s third grade reading law, end required teacher evaluations, abandon the state’s easy-to-understand A-F grading scale for schools that provides transparency, and oppose efforts to give families access to additional educational resources.
Time and time again, the governor vetoed legislation put forward to support students who fell behind, including measures that would have provided families with more choices, resources and opportunities to help their children overcome learning losses.
This crisis requires immediate action. Senate Republicans will not accept Michigan kids being mired in the bottom 10 nationally for educational outcomes. We refuse to sit on the sidelines while Michigan children are left behind and their future is jeopardized.
Senate Republicans will continue to push forward with plans like MI Brighter Future to help students gain access to additional resources and learning opportunities, provide vital training, require accountability for educators and give parents more control over their child’s progress.
We must provide results-oriented leadership so Michigan children can read. It’s absolutely vital for their future. When children fall behind, we need to provide tutors to help them catch up.
We need to restore student progress requirements as a part of every teacher’s evaluation process once again and reinstate the A-F grading scale so parents can easily understand how schools are performing.
We must support our best teachers and help them to serve where they’re needed most. Our plan would provide bonuses to highly effective teachers who take positions in schools where they can have the biggest impact.
We must ensure that every kid has a chance and that no student is ever left behind because of their means or ZIP code. That is why we continue to advocate for scholarships to help families afford additional educational assistance and cover the costs of summer or after-school reading programs.
Above all, we must get back to the basics and refocus our education system on what is important for student achievement. Reading is the foundation of a successful education.
Parents, students, and teachers need the tools, resources, support, and freedom to choose the best path forward in educating our great state’s next generation.
The numbers do not lie. The Lansing establishment is failing students, parents, and our entire state. Two-thirds of Michigan third graders being unable to read at a proficient level is simply unacceptable.
To this point, we will continue providing leadership to demand all tools are being utilized to ensure students can read. Now is the time to turn things around. Failure is simply not an option for the future of our state.
State Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, serves as the Senate Republican Leader and represents Michigan’s 20th Senate District.
“This article was originally published in The www.thecentersquare.com“
