Medicaid work requirements reduce opportunity for Michigan families
In our 2018 state policy agenda, we write that the state needs a strong social safety net in order to promote opportunity for Michigan families. Last week, Michigan’s Senate Republicans took a step towards cutting another large hole in that safety net, diminishing opportunity for Michigan’s working families. How this bill will fail to promote […]
A better way to help students pay for college
Tuition-free college is having a moment. States across the country are offering tuition-free programs at their community colleges. And last year New York State began the largest tuition-free program in the country, making all two- and four-year colleges tuition-free for families earning under $125,000. While this all sounds great, it’s actually not the best policy […]
How important are standardized test scores to life outcomes?
Last week, the Equality of Opportunity Project, led by Stanford economist Raj Chetty, released another study in their ongoing series on mobility in America. This one was particularly sobering. The headline: black males raised in wealthy households (the top quintile of household incomes), are more likely to be poor as adults than they are to […]
The real message from the Marshall Plan for Talent? Get a four-year degree
The Marshall Plan for Talent came with an implicit message to Michigan high school students: four-year degrees aren’t necessary to get ahead in tomorrow’s economy. Billed as a revolutionary approach to education, Governor Snyder envisions a competency-based system heavy on short-term credentials and light on four-year degrees. In an interview with Crain’s about the plan […]
The powerful myth of the young, unemployed BA
It passes for conventional wisdom these days that there’s a large mass of young college graduates (those with a four-year degree or more) who can’t find a job. Everyone seems to have a story about a friend of a friend whose son or daughter got a fancy degree from a fancy university, but is now […]
Breaking down the student loan “crisis”
Many believe that we have a student loan “crisis” on our hands. And indeed, the total level of outstanding student loan debt – $1.4 trillion at present – is striking. However, cumulative numbers like this, generally presented as evidence of the “crisis,” actually tell us very little about the actual impact of loans and debt […]
What does deeper learning look like?
At the core of our statewide education agenda released earlier this year is the idea that we need to shift to an education system in which the 6 Cs – collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence – become the foundation skills that we build in every student, rather than narrowly defined math […]
The problem with 3rd grade reading mandates
Over the past few years, the question of whether 3rd graders can read, and what we should do about it, has dominated education discussions, not just in Detroit and Lansing, but across the country. 3rd grade reading laws have taken the country by storm, with state legislatures passing laws that would hold back any 3rd […]
A strong safety-net to get Michiganders back to work
Some in Lansing would have you believe that our economy is as healthy as ever, with the state’s unemployment rate as low as it’s been since the early 2000s. The problem is that the unemployment rate isn’t a great measure of how many people are working (not to mention how much they’re working or how […]
An attempt to measure what matters
In our statewide education agenda released earlier this year, we call for a new set of foundation skills to be the focus of our education system. Based on the work of learning scientists Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff in their book Becoming Brilliant, we propose that the 6 Cs – collaboration, communication, content (moving […]