New report: Pre-pandemic literacy has improved but will students be retained?
Third grade literacy has improved in Michigan according to a new report on Michigan’s Read by Grade 3 law from Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, the strategic research partner of the Michigan Department of Education.
But progress is threatened because of insufficient targeted funding and concerns that students have fallen behind during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This new report reviewed mostly pre-pandemic data beginning Sept. 2019 through May 2020. Overall, 45% of Michigan’s third graders rated proficient or above on Michigan’s standardized English language assessment, or M-STEP ELA, a slight improvement over 2017’s 44% proficiency rate, which was the first year of test results after the implementation of the law.