Turning a K-shaped economy into an economy that benefits all
K-shaped economy is how many describe our economy since the pandemic. And most expect the recovery to be K-shaped as well. The reality is that the Michigan economy was K-shaped pre-pandemic. With those at the top doing well, but far too many households struggling in the strong 2019 Michigan economy. As we explored in our last post, the Michigan Association…
The 2019 Michigan economy was not one of our best ever
The Michigan Association of United Ways recently reported that in Michigan's strong pre-pandemic 2019 economy 38 percent of Michigan households were unable to pay for basic necessities. So in what many called the best U.S. and Michigan economy ever, nearly four in ten Michigan households (1.5 million) did not earn enough to pay for housing, child care, food, transportation, health…
A Pathway for Every Child: What Now? Ep. 10 with Pam Moran and Ira Socol
Two threads came together for me recently. In talking with Colin Seale, the keynoter at our recent conversation on educational equity that we titled "Beyond Learning Loss" (video available here), I was reminded that of everything we've tried in education in the past--exactly nothing has achieved equity at scale. Nothing. (I'd argue that integration movements in the mid-to-late 1900s were…
Our community college completion challenge
A year ago I wrote about the year two results from the MDRC evaluation of the Detroit Promise Plus program. This post is largely a rerun of that post with data updated for year three of the program. The bottom line unfortunately remains the same: we have an ongoing community college completion challenge. The headline from the new report is…
Wonder Workshops: Bringing Identity and Inquiry Into Schooling: What Now? Ep. 9 with Lisa Bergman and Lisa Diaz
It's commonly observed that a school's culture for children is a mirror of a school's culture for adults. At Mt. Pleasant's Renaissance Public School Academy, as you can see in today's interview, we find a culture where passion and curiosity, alongside a generously nourishing attitude for children, is modeled at all levels. This interview, the first we've done with a…