Teachers, staff and community members at East English Village Academy clap in students as they arrive for the first day of the 2026-2027 school year. Credit: Quinn Banks for BridgeDetroit
Recent news on declining test scores across Michigan has policymakers and community leaders looking for answers — and Detroit should be the first place they turn. Proficiency and absenteeism rates in Detroit are nothing to celebrate, but these numbers tell a misleading story about the city’s schools. They tell us where students are, but not how much progress they are making. Measures that more directly capture the impact of Detroit schools paint a very different picture.
Academically, data from Stanford University’s Educational Opportunity Project show that in math and reading in grades 3-8, Detroit Public Schools Community District students improved, on average, by 1.2 grade levels per year. This means that DPSCD students learned about 20% more per year than the national average, and that the district ranked above the 90th percentile for academic growth (among more than 8,000 districts nationwide).
Our recent research tells a similar story for attendance. With statewide attendance data, we estimated the impact of each school in Michigan on attendance, accounting for differences in the students whothat go to those schools. Our estimates show that the average Detroit student attended about nine more days than they would have at a typical Michigan school. Detroit students have also recovered to pre-pandemic attendance levelslevels of attendance, while students in the rest of the state are still missing more days on average.
Detroit schools are going above and beyond what most schools in Michigan schools are doing, and their improvement shows it’s working. Yet Detroit students’ outcomes are still not where we want them to be. That’s a clear sign that other government and community leaders have a role to play in improving conditions for young people outside of school. Preparing young people to thrive in Michigan needs to be a shared commitment — we have a collective responsibility to ensure that families have stable places to live, good jobs, reliable healthcare, and access to transportation to get them where they need to go.
The city and state can do more to ensure that students and their families have stable and affordable housing, access to healthcare, and safe neighborhoods with economic opportunities. Mayor Mary Sheffield’s administration is already taking more responsibility for the success of Detroit students, by improving conditions for young people to help them get to and thrive in school. Recent initiatives include establishing an Office of Youth Affairs to coordinate with city schools and across city agencies, free public buses for K-12 students and bus ambassadors to address safety concerns, increasing funding for out-of-school programs , and accessible vaccination services and health screenings. The city can build on these efforts, for instance by reviewing public bus stops, schedules, and routes to ensure that more students can access a bus to get them to school. The city can also follow Seattle’s lead and institute a ban on evictions for families with children during the school year, or invest in coordinated case management between schools and the shelter system.
At the state level, lawmakers must consider how resources outside education can better support students and their families. Minnesota’s legislative study group offers one example: it identified student transportation, community support, and intergovernmental coordination as areas for further legislative action. Michigan could start by coordinating existing services and identifying where families still lack support, then making targeted investments to close those gaps.
Progress in Detroit shows that its schools have important lessons for improving achievement and attendance. Detroit’s educators are doing their part. Policymakers must match that effort by making sure students have the conditions they need to show up and succeed.
Jeremy Singer is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Michigan-Flint. He is a research affiliate of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research.
Sarah Winchell Lenhoff is the Leonard Kaplan Endowed Professor and a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Wayne State University. She is the founder and director of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research.
Jeremy Singer is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Michigan-Flint. He is a research affiliate of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research.
More by Jeremy Singer
Sarah Winchell Lenhoff is the Leonard Kaplan Endowed Professor and a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Wayne State University. She is the founder and director of the Detroit Partnership...
More by Sarah Lenhoff
Commentary: Detroit students need more support. Their schools deserve more credit.
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Recent news on declining test scores across Michigan has policymakers and community leaders looking for answers — and Detroit should be the first place they turn. Proficiency and absenteeism rates in Detroit are nothing to celebrate, but these numbers tell a misleading story about the city’s schools. They tell us where students are, but not how much progress they are making. Measures that more directly capture the impact of Detroit schools paint a very different picture.
Academically, data from Stanford University’s Educational Opportunity Project show that in math and reading in grades 3-8, Detroit Public Schools Community District students improved, on average, by 1.2 grade levels per year. This means that DPSCD students learned about 20% more per year than the national average, and that the district ranked above the 90th percentile for academic growth (among more than 8,000 districts nationwide).
Our recent research tells a similar story for attendance. With statewide attendance data, we estimated the impact of each school in Michigan on attendance, accounting for differences in the students whothat go to those schools. Our estimates show that the average Detroit student attended about nine more days than they would have at a typical Michigan school. Detroit students have also recovered to pre-pandemic attendance levelslevels of attendance, while students in the rest of the state are still missing more days on average.
Detroit schools are going above and beyond what most schools in Michigan schools are doing, and their improvement shows it’s working. Yet Detroit students’ outcomes are still not where we want them to be. That’s a clear sign that other government and community leaders have a role to play in improving conditions for young people outside of school. Preparing young people to thrive in Michigan needs to be a shared commitment — we have a collective responsibility to ensure that families have stable places to live, good jobs, reliable healthcare, and access to transportation to get them where they need to go.
The city and state can do more to ensure that students and their families have stable and affordable housing, access to healthcare, and safe neighborhoods with economic opportunities. Mayor Mary Sheffield’s administration is already taking more responsibility for the success of Detroit students, by improving conditions for young people to help them get to and thrive in school. Recent initiatives include establishing an Office of Youth Affairs to coordinate with city schools and across city agencies, free public buses for K-12 students and bus ambassadors to address safety concerns, increasing funding for out-of-school programs , and accessible vaccination services and health screenings. The city can build on these efforts, for instance by reviewing public bus stops, schedules, and routes to ensure that more students can access a bus to get them to school. The city can also follow Seattle’s lead and institute a ban on evictions for families with children during the school year, or invest in coordinated case management between schools and the shelter system.
At the state level, lawmakers must consider how resources outside education can better support students and their families. Minnesota’s legislative study group offers one example: it identified student transportation, community support, and intergovernmental coordination as areas for further legislative action. Michigan could start by coordinating existing services and identifying where families still lack support, then making targeted investments to close those gaps.
Progress in Detroit shows that its schools have important lessons for improving achievement and attendance. Detroit’s educators are doing their part. Policymakers must match that effort by making sure students have the conditions they need to show up and succeed.
Jeremy Singer is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Michigan-Flint. He is a research affiliate of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research.
Sarah Winchell Lenhoff is the Leonard Kaplan Endowed Professor and a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Wayne State University. She is the founder and director of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research.
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Jeremy Singer
Jeremy Singer is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Michigan-Flint. He is a research affiliate of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research. More by Jeremy Singer
Sarah Lenhoff
Sarah Winchell Lenhoff is the Leonard Kaplan Endowed Professor and a professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Wayne State University. She is the founder and director of the Detroit Partnership... More by Sarah Lenhoff