With the state’s read-or-flunk law beginning this year, Michigan’s efforts to help young readers appear to be falling flat.
Ron French
Ron French is the senior enterprise reporter at Bridge Michigan, covering a wide range of topics including rural communities, federal policy impacts, education and public health. Born and raised in Indiana, Ron came to Bridge in 2011 from The Detroit News, where he was a project reporter, and previously reported for newspapers across Indiana. He graduated from Purdue University.
Rooted in Okemos, Ron has become a true Michigander — complete with a family cabin Up North.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
Michigan M-STEP test scores are inching upward. See how your school compares.
Results from the state’s annual standardized test, given to students in grades 3-8, show faint signs of improvement. See how state students overall performed in the tests given last spring, and look up your own school.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
Benton Harbor schools may be open for now, but test scores are the pits
The good news is Benton Harbor High will remain open this year despite threats by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to close it. The bad news is its test scores are among the state’s worst.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
Michigan schools say they can’t find enough substitute teachers
More and more public schools are struggling to find someone to lead classes when teachers are out – a sign of a growing teacher shortage and a humming economy where people can find more lucrative jobs.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
Michigan superintendent: Need more career tech, teachers, mental health care
Michael Rice steps into Michigan’s top education role with a list of clear initiatives he says will improve academics, and students’ lives.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
Michigan school leaders decry explosion of untrained teachers in classrooms
School leaders including new state Superintendent Michael Rice say time and money are needed to reduce growth of long-term substitutes, following Bridge Magazine investigation.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
New Michigan school superintendent: Keep Benton Harbor High open
With the new state school superintendent stating firmly he wants the troubled high school to remain open, pressure may build on Michigan officials to find a way to resolve issues with Benton Harbor.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
Expert: Michigan’s reliance on long-term subs ‘should concern all of us’
University of Michigan School of Education dean Elizabeth Birr Moje says Michigan risks widening achievement gaps between poor and more affluent students through the increased use of untrained teachers.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
An Up North charter is 44 percent subs. You can’t tell difference, supt. says
At the fast-growing Charlton Heston Academy in St. Helen, nearly half of classrooms were staffed by uncertified, long-term substitutes last year. Superintendent says it’s not ideal, but charter can’t attract certified teachers.
Posted inMichigan Education Watch
How a wedding planner became an uncertified Michigan teacher for $15 an hour
One was a wedding planner. The other, an assistant basketball coach. Their stories say a lot about how Michigan increasingly is using long-term substitutes, full-time teachers with no training in education to lead classrooms.