Low performing Detroit charter schools
Nearly four years ago I wrote a post entitled Unlimited charters: not smart. Using data for charter schools serving Detroit students––then and now the epicenter of charters in Michigan––it made the case that the charter sector had not earned the right to charter an unlimited number of new schools. Student achievement was too low. Two […]
New report: lessons learned
Our latest report identified a clear path to prosperity for states and metropolitan area in an economy shaped by globalization and technology. The only exceptions to the pattern are those few who have been benefiting from high energy prices (like North Dakota). In the midst of an auto boom, Michigan in 2014 is 35th in […]
What about Up North?
Recently I have been receiving lots of questions about how to improve the economy in northern lower peninsula Michigan. To be honest, we don’t have good answers. Across the country, in rural areas/small towns––except for those with lots of high priced energy related commodities––incomes and college attainment are low and populations, by and large, are stagnant, […]
The truth about jobs and four year degrees
Two insightful new reports from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. You can read them here and here. The two studies demolish what passes for conventional wisdom on job creation in post Great Recession America. First and foremost, it is not true that we have too many with four year degrees. From […]
Alarm bells needed II
We finished our last post this way: The bottom line: the Massachusetts approach has worked, Michigan’s hasn’t. Seems like its time for Michigan to learn from the state with the highest student achievement in the country. In this post lets look at the data. It comes from the just released 2015 NAEP, the nation’s report card […]
Alarm bells needed
Lots of new data on student achievement by Michigan k-12 students. All with a single conclusion: we are a national laggard. All kids, not just poor kids, minority kids, urban kids. The results from the new state M-STEP assessment show Michigan students in reading––at all tested grade levels––to be about 50% proficient. In math its […]
The case for a stronger safety net
Two insightful Eduardo Porter columns for the New York Times. One entitled The myth of welfare’s corrupting influence on the poor. The other entitled The Republican party’s strategy to ignore poverty. Both worth reading. The first makes the case that the evidence is that safety net programs do not significantly reduce individual’s willingness to work […]
Work requires broad skills
More evidence that work increasingly requires broad, rather than narrow occupation specific, skills. Terrific article in the Atlantic entitled The Unexpected Schools Championing the Liberal Arts: Military academies and chef schools say the humanities are essential to their graduates’ success. How can that be you ask. Aren’t the liberal arts useless skills that lead to crushing student […]
The case for building broad skills for all
The Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) has developed an approach to education for all children that is designed to develop the skills that employers hire for. Those same skills are the foundation that all of us will increasingly need to adjust to constant change in labor markets. What follows in bullet form is the […]
Prosperity and college attainment II
In my last post we explored the alignment between state’s per capita income and the proportion of adults with a four year degree. Increasing four year degree attainment is a powerful lever in dealing with many of Michigan’s still substantial economic challenges. Here, in bullet form, is that case: Michigan Today Michigan is now structurally […]