This is an excerpt from my latest column for Dome Magazine.

 

The results are out for the main test administered to Michigan’s K-12 students and what they show, above all else, is failure in our schools.

The M-STEP test scores released this week show that most students across the spectrum are failing to learn what the exam says they need to know in their grade level. English, math, science, social studies – the stories of failure are everywhere.

While education officials studiously seek out year-to-year gains within the data, the fact is that test scores from Muskegon to Mackinaw, from Macomb County to Manistee demonstrate that our kids are not attaining the knowledge that leads to a post-high school college education or a vocational skill.

The failures are widespread but perhaps nothing sounds the alarm more than what is happening in classrooms in Michigan’s largest and most-troubled city: The proportion of third-graders in Detroit who passed the overall test was just 10 percent.

What future awaits those youngsters if they do not receive an education-based rescue plan? Will they post mediocre scores all the way through the 12th grade?

At the same time, if you believe the problem is an inner-city Detroit problem, think again.

Statewide, the percentage of third-grade students passing the reading portion of the M-STEP (Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress) dipped for the third year in a row.

The Michigan Department of Education reported that third-graders passing the English language arts test — which measures reading, writing, listening and language — dropped to 44.1 percent in 2017, compared to 46 percent in 2016 and 50 percent in 2015.

No one needs reminding that the previous high-water mark of 50-50 on this section of the test was an abomination in a global economy where jobs linked to higher education remain dominant. Kids who can’t read by the third grade often struggle throughout their K-12 experience.

Meanwhile, State Superintendent of Schools Brian Whiston, in his happy-talk about our schools, sounds a bit like President Trump when he boasts about how his White House functions wonderfully.

Whiston serves as a cheerleader, he is programmed to espouse disingenuous praise for the education system annually, regardless of what the assessments show.

A year ago, facing appalling scores on the standardized exam, he pointed to a few improvements and claimed, “We can celebrate our successes.”

This week, he seems to be following a standard playbook as he proclaimed, “It’s important to take the time to celebrate our successes”

How off the mark are the PR-style statements from the Department of Education? Let’s take a look:

  • Statewide M-STEP results show that 56% of sixth-grade students are “not proficient” or “partially proficient” in the subject of English – meaning they failed the test.
  • Two-thirds of Michigan’s eight-graders failed the math portion of the exam.
  • Three-fourths of seventh-graders failed the test in science.
  • Eight in 10 fifth-graders failed in social studies.

In Detroit’s northern suburbs, where most parents think their schools are just fine, it doesn’t take much effort to pinpoint scores that are as bad or worse than those in Detroit.

Continue reading here.