Michigan State University researchers are raising serious questions about how Michigan is serving its rural students.
Michigan is ranked 44th in the country in fourth-grade reading. Just 24% of fourth graders are reading at grade level, compared to 30% in the U.S.
When you look at students from low-income families, the numbers are even more stark. Only 13% of economically disadvantaged kids in Michigan are reading at grade level, compared with 38% of students who are not economically disadvantaged. That’s a 25-point gap.
Let’s narrow the lens to rural Michigan, and the picture gets more complicated. Rural school districts cover more than 88% of this state’s total land area and make up roughly 40% of all school districts in Michigan, yet they serve less than a third of the state’s K-12 students.
Think about what that means on the ground. Rural districts average just eight students per square mile; for non-rural districts, the number is 137 students per square mile. That translates to longer bus routes, harder-to-fill teaching positions, and limited access to advanced courses and mental health services.
The state of Michigan spends just $9 million in targeted funding for its isolated rural schools, a figure researchers at Michigan State say is inadequate.
Nearly one in five American students attends a rural school, but research has shown that those kids are consistently overlooked in education policy.
Also, rural America isn’t just one thing. It’s Black communities in the South, Indigenous communities here in the Midwest, and growing Latino communities across the country—all with different needs, and too often treated the same by policies.
Sheneka Williams, an MSU professor and chairperson in the Department of Educational Administration for MSU’s College of Education, joined Local 4 Live to help us dive into the conversation.
You can watch the full interview in the video at the beginning of this article.