What percentage of Michigan high school seniors are ready for college? 17 percent 61 percent 74 percent The correct answer is: No one really knows. About 74 percent of high school students graduate, which, if the diploma means something, should make them college and/or career ready. By the standards used by the Michigan Department of […]
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
Enrolling in community college is just half the battle
The good news: Low-income students are enrolling in Michigan colleges at a record rate. The bad news: Many of them won’t leave with degrees. While more low-income students are making it to campus, they’re more likely to attend Michigan community colleges, where the graduation rates are among the lowest in the nation. “These kids hit […]
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A film about Detroit manhood scrambles for funding
Veteran Detroit screenwriter and teacher Harvey Ovshinsky likes to say Detroit is the Saudi Arabia of stories, and all an aspiring filmmaker needs to do is go out there and grab one. Certainly, many have been taking his advice; documentaries set in and around Detroit have exploded in recent months, prompting the Free Press to […]
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Ready for college? In Michigan, likely not.
If you live in Michigan, your high-schooler is probably less prepared for college than the average American student. Your teen has only an average chance of graduating from high school, and a below-average chance of enrolling in college. And if your son or daughter makes it to campus, he or she is less likely to […]
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Michigan's 'Faltering 40' on college prep
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. […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]