When the COVID-19 pandemic drove schools online in March 2020, state education leaders were left without access to data needed to understand how best to support students. The pandemic revealed the strengths and limitations of state education data systems while inspiring new strategies for collecting, reporting and using data. In 2021, DataSmith…

Seven decades after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case "Brown vs. Board of Education," Michigan students of color continue to face devastating educational inequities in deeply under-resourced public schools. Today, they are far more likely to be enrolled in Michigan public schools with the highest concentrations of poverty, where they…

The 2014 Michigan Public High School Context and Performance Report Card is the Mackinac Center's second effort to measure high school performance. The first high school assessment was published in 2012, followed by the Center's 2013 elementary and middle school report card, which used a similar methodology to evaluate school performance. The…

Despite Michigan's rich history of entrepreneurship and innovation, the state now trails most others both economically and educationally. This report documents the shockingly low performance of schools statewide. Although Detroit has the weakest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) among the country's big cities, other…

This document is a graphic collection of statistical data compiled by the Michigan Department of Education that reflects some of the important educational trends in Michigan. The report is organized in five major sections. The first section describes student enrollment trends and the recent status of various programs designed to serve certain…