Watch Bridge Lunch Break discussion on Michigan’s education crisis

Michigan can reverse low literacy scores as other states have, but there must be consistency.

This was one of the takeaways from the most recent Bridge Michigan Lunch Break event, where panelists discussed Michigan’s education system. Audience members asked panelists about test scores, long-standing funding debates and adopting reading practices shown to have worked in other places.

Bridge Michigan education reporter Isabel Lohman led a discussion about the topic on Zoom with Adrea Truckenmiller, associate professor of special education at Michigan State University, Marguerite Roza, research professor at Georgetown University and director of the Edunomics Lab, and Beth Gonzalez, deputy superintendent of educational services at Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency. They were joined by Bridge reporters Ron French and Mike Wilkinson.

If you missed the virtual conversation, you can watch it here:

This discussion is part of an ongoing Bridge Michigan series about the state’s educational performance and what can be done to improve it. Despite a large boost in state spending, Michigan children are lagging in reading compared to their peers in every other Midwest state, as measured by a national test often called the nation’s report card.

Bridge’s monthly Lunch Break series focuses on timely topics facing our state. Previous events have discussed the collapse of the whitefish population in the lower Great Lakes, Michigan summer tourism , the changing landscape of deer hunting in the state, spending of Michigan’s opioid settlement funds, solutions to gun violence in Michigan, Michigan’s population crisis, youth mental health in Michigan and the legacy of the automotive industry on the state’s environment and economy.

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