If you want your son or daughter to succeed in college, there are 40 public school districts you may want to avoid. In an analysis by Bridge Magazine and Public Sector Consultants, these 40 districts, spread across the state and ranging from urban to rural, scored in the bottom rungs of four different college-readiness measures. […]
Talent & Education
To prosper, Michigan must be a more educated place. Bridge will explore the challenges in education and identify policies and initiatives that address them.
Posted inTalent & Education
A decade of slipping: Michigan's students fall behind
Michigan is falling behind other states in preparing its teenagers for college, a trend that could hobble the state’s efforts to revitalize its economy. The percentage of Michigan high school graduates going to college has been inching upward, from 57.5 percent in 1992 to 59.4 percent in 2008, according to the National Center for Higher […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Parsing the 3 Rs: Rigor, responsibility, readiness
College readiness means knowing how to solve an algebraic equation, but it also means knowing how to set an alarm clock. That’s the advice of Jim Montoya, former dean of admissions at Stanford University and now president of higher education relationship development at the College Board, which runs the SAT college admissions test. In an […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Spend a little on kids now, save a lot later
Call it common sense, call it common knowledge, but now it has a number attached: $40,000. Or $100,000. The first number is the amount the state of Michigan saves on every child who arrives at kindergarten “ready to learn,” that is, with an adequate preschool or similar early-childhood experience. The six-figure sum is what the […]
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Journalism hall honors Center for Michigan founder
Speaking before the assembled guests at an induction ceremony of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, Center for Michigan Chairman Phil Power told a story about how he got into the newspaper business. It was the mid-1960s. After studying at prestigious schools in the United States and Great Britain, the young Power had moved on […]
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Everybody feels our pain
From the comments piling up on Bridge’s stories about school-employee pension reform, both here and at Mlive, where Bridge shares content, you’d think…well, you’d think a lot of things. For a topic that involves actuarial tables and lots of numbers, it gets blood boiling like few others. But if there’s one takeaway I hope every […]
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Report: Charters spend less in classrooms
Michigan charter schools spend $1,141 less per student on instruction than traditional public schools, and $774 more per pupil on administration, according to a newly released study by professors at Michigan State Universityand the University of Utah. The study examines spending data for all charter schools and public school districts in the state, and attempts […]
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Knowing is half the battle
Bridge Magazine’s prime focus is to provide top-flight, in-depth journalism on key state issues. But what happens if you produce a top-flight story and few hear about it? That’s why Bridge is committed to working with allies in the news media to amplify coverage — and to getting the message out about what’s happening at bridgemi.com. Last […]
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Lightening the lead foot
I don’t know what it is with me and paying for energy, but whatever it is, I inherited it from my father. Growing up, my friends referred to our chilly winter house as “the meat locker” and knew that just because the house looked dark when they pulled into the driveway, it didn’t mean we […]
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The day I almost killed Mike Wallace
One of the last times I saw Mike Wallace, he was in my rearview mirror, back bent, pushing my car down Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor. He had a huge smile on his face. I had a look of terror on mine. It was Spring, 2003, and I was in the midst of an eight-month […]