Bowing to complaints about test fatigue, Detroit reins in the amount of time students spend on in-district standardized tests.
Chastity Pratt
Chastity Pratt is a former reporter for Bridge.
Posted inTalent & Education
Residents bullish on job training, and want employers to carry load
Residents say additional training, apprenticeship and internship programs will give young and older workers a boost.
Posted inMichigan Government
In Michigan heroin epidemic, deciding whose lives are worth saving
With heroin and prescription drug abuse at historic levels, lawmakers are pushing for wider access to naloxone, a life-saving antidote, for some drug abusers.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Lawmakers to big box stores: Pay your fair share of taxes!
Legislators want to stop big box retailers from using a controversial tax strategy that is cutting their property tax payments in half; a maneuver that small towns say is crushing their budgets and spreading to other businesses.
Posted inTalent & Education
One teacher, 25 kids and the enormous challenge of turning around Detroit schools (Chapter 1)
The state is in the midst of yet another fix for Detroit’s troubled schools. So this spring, Bridge spent time in William Weir’s social studies classroom to get a sense for what works, and what doesn’t, for one Detroit teacher.
Posted inTalent & Education
One teacher, 25 kids: For struggling students, a push to 'dream bigger' (Chapter 2)
For third- and fourth-graders with limited reading skills, a teacher must take creative measures to make lessons stick.
Posted inTalent & Education
One teacher, 25 kids: ‘Can I sleep at night?’ (Chapter 3)
Budget deficits in Detroit mean even larger class sizes come this fall. Will Mr. Weir meet the challenge for his young students?
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan’s jobs rebound also brings a lower paycheck
Michigan, a pioneer of the American middle class, is adding jobs but wages have fallen below the national average in the past decade.
Posted inBusiness Watch
State struggles to boost lives of the working poor
Four-in-10 Michigan families can’t afford life’s basics, according to a report by the United Way. The report contends that helping struggling workers will ultimately benefit the state as a whole.
Posted inQuality of Life
Dreaming big: A walking trail spanning Michigan’s vast coastline
Could Michigan’s coast tracing the Mitten and Upper Peninsula be the centerpiece of a Great Lakes walking trail? At more than 10,000 miles, a proposed Great Lakes trail would be the world’s longest.