Michigan

News, analysis, and opinion about K-12 education in Michigan
Students in Brooke Smith’s class dance as they participate in an exercise through the InPACT program during the school day at North Elementary School in Birch Run, Mich., on March 2, 2023.
Students in Brooke Smith’s class dance as they participate in an exercise through the InPACT program during the school day at North Elementary School in Birch Run, Mich., on March 2, 2023.
Emily Elconin for Education Week
Student Well-Being What the Research Says Students Need More Exercise. Here's How to Add Activity Without Disrupting Learning
Classroom activity breaks have the potential to boost students' attention and fitness, researchers and teachers say.
Sarah D. Sparks, March 3, 2023
6 min read
Kim King, an art teacher at Mansfield Elementary School in Mansfield, Conn., works with Ainsley Liebster, a pre-k student in her choice-based art class, on Feb. 13, 2023.
Kim King, an art teacher at Mansfield Elementary School in Storrs Mansfield, Conn., works with Ainsley Liebster, a pre-K student in her choice-based art class in February.
Christopher Capozziello for Education Week
Teaching 5 Ways to Inspire a Love for Learning in Students
Education researchers and classroom teachers weigh in on what works.
Elizabeth Heubeck, February 21, 2023
6 min read
Miguel Perez stands outside the Supreme Court after arguments in the case of Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools on Jan. 18, 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Miguel Perez, right, along with lawyer Roman Martinez, stands outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Wednesday after arguments in his case against his former school district in Sturgis, Mich.
Mark Walsh/Education Week
Special Education Supreme Court Seems in Favor of Deaf Student's Right to Sue School District Under the ADA
Miguel Luna Perez was there as the justices weighed issues in his case over his district allegedly failing to provide trained interpreters.
Mark Walsh, January 18, 2023
7 min read
Miguel Perez
Miguel Luna Perez in a 2016 yearbook photo as a senior at Sturgis High School in Michigan. Luna Perez, who is deaf, went on to the Michigan School for the Deaf in a settlement with his district but is seeking to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for the district's alleged failures to provide him adequate assistance to communicate.
Photo courtesy of Luna Perez family
Special Education A Deaf Student Says His School District Failed Him. The Supreme Court Will Decide
Miguel Luna Perez received inadequate assistance for 12 years, his suit says. The high court will decide if he can pursue money damages.
Mark Walsh, January 17, 2023
10 min read
Image of students in line for a school meal.
Lisa Rathke/AP
Student Well-Being Student Hunger Over Winter Break: One 4th Grader's Solution for His School
A school nurse and student work together to help feed students and families who may not have enough to eat during holiday closures.
Elizabeth Heubeck, December 22, 2022
4 min read
People gather as the Supreme Court begins its new term and to hear the first arguments, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. Monday's session is also the first time new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court's first Black female justice, will participate. And it's the first time the public will be able to attend since the court closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
People gather for the first day of the U.S. Supreme Court's new term Oct. 3, the first time the public was able to attend since the court closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Special Education The Supreme Court Will Decide a Significant Special Education Case
The justices will decide whether families must exhaust special education proceedings when they seek money damages under other federal laws.
Mark Walsh, October 3, 2022
4 min read
A bus full of meals drives down a road as Chattahoochee County schools provides meals for their students for the last time before summer break on Thursday, May 7, 2020, in Cusseta, Ga.
Bus drivers provide the start and end to many students' school days—playing a critical role in learning. But with relatively low pay and challenging working conditions, veteran drivers are leaving for other jobs and districts are struggling to fill open positions with new ones.
Brynn Anderson/AP
Recruitment & Retention 'It's Hard to See the Perks': Schools Face Tough Sell in Filling Key Jobs
Bus drivers and other K-12 workers say they are underpaid for the difficult jobs they do to keep schools running.
Mark Lieberman, June 15, 2022
6 min read
Jecholiah Marriott, 17, a junior at Cass Technical High School, leads the March for Our Lives rally through the streets of downtown Detroit, Mich. on June 11, 2022. The rally was to protest the spike in gun violence, especially in schools across the country.
Jecholiah Marriott, 17, leads the March for Our Lives rally through the streets of downtown Detroit on June 11.
KT Kanazawich for Education Week
School Climate & Safety A New Generation of Youth Activists Asks a Familiar Question: How Many More Students Must Die?
Detroit high school students pick up the reins of the March For Our Lives movement after another stunning spate of gun violence.
Williamena Kwapo, June 11, 2022
3 min read
Student with backpack.
surasaki/iStock/Getty
School Choice & Charters Mich. Public School Advocates Launch Effort to Stop DeVos-Backed Proposal
The former secretary of education is backing an initiative that advocates say would create an unconstitutional voucher system.
Samuel J. Robinson, mlive.com, March 17, 2022
4 min read
A well wisher kneels to pray at a memorial on the sign of Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. A 15-year-old sophomore opened fire at the school, killing several students and wounding multiple other people, including a teacher.
A mourner kneels at a memorial in Oxford, Mich., site of the deadliest school shooting since 2018.
Paul Sancya/AP
School Climate & Safety What This Week's Mass Shooting Can Teach Us About School Safety
The incident in Michigan, the deadliest school shooting in three years, will add to a wrenching school safety debate.
Stephen Sawchuk, December 1, 2021
7 min read
Collage of figures and money texture.
Collage by Laura Baker/Education Week and iStock/Getty
Education Funding State K-12 Spending Is Inequitable and Inadequate. See Where Yours Ranks
There's a $17,000 per student difference between the highest- and lowest-spending states. High-poverty schools suffer especially.
Mark Lieberman, October 28, 2021
4 min read
Teaching Profession Video Six Schools in Seven Years: Where One Black Male Teacher Found the Right Fit
A black male teacher in Detroit on the value of finding the right school for both staff and students.
Jaclyn Borowski, September 29, 2021
4:28
Illustration of students reading with pie chart.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
States From Our Research Center Map: A-F Grades, Rankings for States on School Quality
Here’s a map showing grades for all the states on this year’s Quality Counts summative report card, on which the nation gets a C overall.
EdWeek Research Center, September 1, 2021
1 min read
Illustration of students reading with pie chart.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
States From Our Research Center Nation Gets a 'C' on Latest School Quality Report Card, While N.J. Again Boasts Top Grade
A slight increase in this year's Quality Counts score isn't enough to boost the nation's school system above last year's middling grade.
Sterling C. Lloyd & Alex Harwin, September 1, 2021
8 min read