Michigan’s forgotten 4-year-olds

For Joanne Kelty, the economics of Michigan’s preschool program become more vexing each year. She supervises a program for Grand Rapids Public Schools considered to be a model for the state, with vocal support from the district’s superintendent and school board. Yet every year, the district has fewer 4-year-olds in class. “I hold my breath […]

Every morning, a bus picked up 5-year-old kindergartners a block from the Middleton family home in Walker and took them to a Kenowa Hills school. Every morning, Kelly Middleton packed up 4-year-old Seamus and drove him to the very same school. “I’ve seen buses go by,” Middleton said. “When it’s winter and you don’t want […]

The education of Jordan Shaw will start a year later because she lives in Michigan. The Canton girl was in a private preschool program last year as a 3-year-old. But after Jordan’s little brother was born, her parents could no longer afford it. “Preschool gives them good learning skills. (But) trying to pay for her […]

Gobles is a small, rural, almost exclusively white community on the west side of the state. Beecher is an old blue-collar suburb of Flint, racially mixed and overwhelmingly poor. But the children of Gobles and Beecher do share a characteristic — one that neither wants: They can’t attend free, state-funded preschool. Across the state, there […]

Maybe she just didn’t have enough experience to know better. Maybe she had a financial incentive. Whatever the reason, Natalie Merryman succeeded where a lot of school districts failed. As a first-year preschool teacher in the Great Start Readiness Program, Merryman was able to find the kind of at-risk 4-year-olds who are often forgotten in […]

Like any mother, Grand Rapids resident Courtney Malone wants the best for her children. That’s why she worries about her 3-year-old son, Bryson, who is on a waiting list for the state’s Great Start Readiness Program. She fears he could be losing ground by missing out on the all-day preschool. “It’s very disappointing,” said Malone, […]

In theory, children from low- and moderate-income homes have an equal opportunity for free, high-quality preschool in every corner of Michigan. But it turns out some corners are more equal than others. In Saginaw, 91 percent of 4-year-olds eligible for Great Start Readiness Program are in that state-funded preschool or another state- or federally funded […]

Landen Ford wants to go to preschool. The 4-year-old Flushing boy with a crew cut and a toothy grin thought he’d learn the alphabet and his sounds, and maybe make some friends, just like his big brother Logan did last year. But instead of learning to write his name, Landen is learning an early lesson […]