Michigan Ranks 50th in US for School Performance Metrics

[313WX]

Those metrics being improvements in 4th grade math/reading proficiency and education funding...

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/ms...-state-funding

Funding for Michigan's public schools is insufficient to meet rising education standards, according to a recent study by researchers at Michigan State University.

The MSU researchers said Michigan tightened its total spending on K-12 public education more than any other state over a 20 year period ending in 2015.

The study said that after adjusting for inflation, the state's education funding in 2015 was just 82 percent of what it had been 20 years earlier. The study said, "No other state is close to a decline of this magnitude..."

...Declining funding and lower academic performance go hand in hand, according to the study, which found that Michigan ranked last out of all 50 states for improvement in 4th grade math and reading proficiency between 2003 and 2015.

[Meddle]

Gee, what's her name that's running the Federal system now? Where is she from? And what was her mission?

[Wesley Mouch]

Gee, what's her name that's running the Federal system now? Where is she from? And what was her mission?

When a report produces findings you adore, suspicion is best.

The report calls for an increase of $3.6 billion per year, or a 20% increase.

The report writers are not only experts in school funding / school performance, but also in how to fix the problem. And its so easy. Just pour more money. Who knew?

[DeLemur]

When a report produces findings you adore, suspicion is best.

The report writers are not only experts in school funding / school performance, but also in how to fix the problem. And its so easy. Just pour more money. Who knew?

Money means a lot when teachers are making 40K a year and would rather be delivering cardboard boxes all day long for UPS and making more money. We need quality educators and invested parents.
When you're dead last in funding increases and dead last in performance change, something tells me you should pay attention to the money. Not like the skills of 2019 are any different from 1994 are they? Sure manufacturing facilities look identical to then and the skills don't really need much math or programming. We'll do alright with the lowest performance increases in Math and Reading.

I'm sorry, but you don't deserve to be the sarcastic guy here after this report. Guess, that'll be me.

[abraham]

Yep, lets just worry about a wall though. Devos will take care of education. I've been saying for 40 years that we need to switch pro sports income with teacher income. Seems alot more in line to me. In my opinion teachers salary should be in the 7+digits. Can you imagine what kind of genius's we would be pumping out. It would change the world. In stead I sit here and watch my 9 year old get the Betsy Devos treatment. Fucking Bitch!!

[313WX]

Yep, lets just worry about a wall though. Devos will take care of education. I've been saying for 40 years that we need to switch pro sports income with teacher income. Seems alot more in line to me. In my opinion teachers salary should be in the 7+digits. Can you imagine what kind of genius's we would be pumping out. It would change the world. In stead I sit here and watch my 9 year old get the Betsy Devos treatment. Fucking Bitch!!

You're on a roll this morning and I like it!!! lol.

[abraham]

And I didnt think anyone was paying attention. I actually wrote out several paragraphs on other topics only to delete them before posting. I'm trying to stay mid stream and not get too bitter. lol

[oladub]

Money means a lot when teachers are making 40K a year and would rather be delivering cardboard boxes all day long for UPS and making more money. We need quality educators and invested parents.
When you're dead last in funding increases and dead last in performance change, something tells me you should pay attention to the money. Not like the skills of 2019 are any different from 1994 are they? Sure manufacturing facilities look identical to then and the skills don't really need much math or programming. We'll do alright with the lowest performance increases in Math and Reading.

According to a 2018 USA Today article citing U.S. Department of Labor numbers, Michigan ranks 13th. of 50 among states in teacher pay.

13. Michigan

• Median salary, school teachers: $62,442
• Median salary, all workers: $36,650 [[23rd highest)
• Per pupil expenditure: $12,765 [[21st highest)
• High school graduation rate: 79.8 percent [[15th lowest)
• Cost of living: 6.5 percent less than national avg. [[22nd lowest)

[DeLemur]

According to a 2018 USA Today article citing U.S. Department of Labor numbers, Michigan ranks 13th. of 50 among states in teacher pay.

13. Michigan

• Median salary, school teachers: $62,442
• Median salary, all workers: $36,650 [[23rd highest)
• Per pupil expenditure: $12,765 [[21st highest)
• High school graduation rate: 79.8 percent [[15th lowest)
• Cost of living: 6.5 percent less than national avg. [[22nd lowest)

This is good data. Higher than I expected, from the anecdotal evidence I hear from friends who've taught in Charter schools or started in DPS.

[Canadian Visitor]

According to a 2018 USA Today article citing U.S. Department of Labor numbers, Michigan ranks 13th. of 50 among states in teacher pay.

13. Michigan

• Median salary, school teachers: $62,442
• Median salary, all workers: $36,650 [[23rd highest)
• Per pupil expenditure: $12,765 [[21st highest)
• High school graduation rate: 79.8 percent [[15th lowest)
• Cost of living: 6.5 percent less than national avg. [[22nd lowest)

By far the most important metric there is HS Graduation.

Others not listed would be performance on SATs and other standardized tests, PISA results, % of students who move on to post-secondary and who graduate post-secondary.

***

I don't believe, based on what I've seen here, that anyone would disagree that Michigan under performs on education.

The reasonable question is then why.

To answer that, you first need to break down the Michigan results regionally.

This is important because it helps answer the questions about state-wide choices such as curriculum, length of school day and year etc.

If it turns out results are more in line w/acceptable when you remove, let's say, the 4 worst performing boards.....then the state-level fixes might be smaller, and the issue more centered on the problematic boards.

If the results are still disappointing when you extract the poorest performers, then there is a need for more comprehensive change at the state level.

Without having studied the issue in detail, my suspicion would be a bit of both.

I see Michigan has lengthened the school year in recent years to be more in line w/US norms, but its still really short by global standards.

Ontario's school year is 194 days.

In respect of funding per pupil, I would like to see how that breakdown compares between different boards.

I think logically you start with a base amount per student that is equal across a jurisdiction.

You then add money to deal with extraordinary costs such as busing in rural areas, the cost of older school buildings that less efficient and have higher repair costs, as well as proportion of higher-needs students.

The base sum may be unreasonably low or about right; but how its allocated is every bit as important.

[hybridy]

we jumped out of the birmingham district into another public district that is also top-ranking in a new state. my first grader while not behind, did have an adjustment period. in addition to 20 minutes of required nightly reading, she also had daily math homework...IN FIRST GRADE! she did not have any of this daily work in birmingham school district.

i do wonder how michigan's large urban districts skew that data? DPS, Flint, etc.

[sirrealone]

My kids in the Avondale School district both had homework in the first grade.

[Hermod]

Yep, lets just worry about a wall though. Devos will take care of education. I've been saying for 40 years that we need to switch pro sports income with teacher income. Seems alot more in line to me. In my opinion teachers salary should be in the 7+digits. Can you imagine what kind of genius's we would be pumping out. It would change the world. In stead I sit here and watch my 9 year old get the Betsy Devos treatment. Fucking Bitch!!

So, if we doubled the salary of each and every teacher in the state, student performance would also double? Who knew?

[Zacha341]

The charters are lower than DPS on average.

And that salary range quote is for a certified, masters level teacher quite a few years in. Not intro.

This is good data. Higher than I expected, from the anecdotal evidence I hear from friends who've taught in Charter schools or started in DPS.

[Zacha341]

No. IMO, the two are NOT that closely or miraculously tied together! But better salaries in some areas of teaching would help.

So, if we doubled the salary of each and every teacher in the state, student performance would also double? Who knew?

[Ray1936]

I dunno. Never had a memorable teacher in all my school days, but I sure had a lot that I felt were real duds. That especially applies to WSU a lifetime ago. Sorry, but that's my view.

[BankruptcyGuy]

This study has quite a few flaws, not least of which they do not include pension payments as a part of "school funding." I don't know another industry where fringe benefits are not a part of labor costs, but it spoils the narrative, so they left that out.

The School Aid Fund had about $10.8B in 2001. It has $14.7B this year. The number of students has declined from 1,720,000 to 1,485,000 [[this includes charters). That means funding has gone from $6,279 per child to $9,898 per child. And please spare me the "School Aid Fund diversion" argument. Check the Michigan Constitution--the School Aid Fund provision [[Article IX, Section 11) specifically mentions "higher education."

Those numbers are all easily found on the state website. Why do we continue with the "schools are underfunded" mantra? Why does no one in our Fourth Estate do their own research and challenge these studies? I think the answer is obvious.

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/D.../FHk12_web.pdf

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/numbsch_26940_7.pdf

[Canadian Visitor]

This study has quite a few flaws, not least of which they do not include pension payments as a part of "school funding." I don't know another industry where fringe benefits are not a part of labor costs, but it spoils the narrative, so they left that out.

The School Aid Fund had about $10.8B in 2001. It has $14.7B this year. The number of students has declined from 1,720,000 to 1,485,000 [[this includes charters). That means funding has gone from $6,279 per child to $9,898 per child. And please spare me the "School Aid Fund diversion" argument. Check the Michigan Constitution--the School Aid Fund provision [[Article IX, Section 11) specifically mentions "higher education."

Those numbers are all easily found on the state website. Why do we continue with the "schools are underfunded" mantra? Why does no one in our Fourth Estate do their own research and challenge these studies? I think the answer is obvious.

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/D.../FHk12_web.pdf

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/numbsch_26940_7.pdf

In terms of the gross funding number, you didn't make any adjustment for inflation.

So I went to a US inflation calculator website and plugged in the year 2000 number.

It indicates total inflation of 45% since then.

Which would equal $15,883,443,725.29

Which divide by the current student total would equal

$10,680 per pupil, which, in fairness, is above the inflation adjusted per pupil number from 2000 of $9,156.22

Though the increase is a lot less significant when viewed in inflation adjusted terms.

But you have to fairly account for certain costs.

Has the number of closed schools kept pace w/enrollment decline?

I don't know the answer to that one but my instinct is that they have not, as its both politically challenging to close schools and its also problematic for geographical reasons in some cases.

Where enrollment per student may decline, but the number of schools remain disproportionately large, the cost per student for utilities and building maintenance rises [[same w/principle and school office staff and services)

I would also wonder what costs may be greater due to legislative or other changes.

For instance compliance with ADA

Its not so simple as you make it seem.