The kids are not all right. That seems to be true, at least, when it comes to their education in Michigan.

Only one-fourth of high school juniors are college-ready, based on their SAT scores.

Younger students are struggling, too. Around 44% of students in third through eighth grades are proficient in reading, and about 35% are proficient in math. Third graders posted the lowest reading scores in the 12-year history of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, known as the M-STEP.

Detroit is the exception. Scores in the Detroit Public Schools Community District rose in both subjects while the state average fell.

Third grade reading was up to 14.1% proficient and third grade math was up to 20.1%. Detroit’s third graders also set an 11-year high in reading last year, and they climbed again this year. 

They did it all while carrying more than other public school districts in Michigan. Detroit students continue to face the outcomes of decades of disinvestment and systemic racism. Nearly 4 in 5 Detroit students qualify for subsidized meals.

There are many reasons students are having a rough time. The COVID-19 pandemic strained vital contact between teachers and students and drove absenteeism to record highs, though chronic absenteeism has fallen four years running and now sits at 27.2% statewide.

Cyekeia Lee, executive director of the Detroit College Access Network, says students’ attention is being hijacked by social media in a way she compares to addiction. Students are also turning to artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT to write papers and solve problems.

How concerning are these factors? What does it all mean for the future of our workforce and society more broadly?

Lee joined host Robyn Vincent to discuss what “college ready” actually measures, what it means to build meaningful access to college and what she tells young people who come into her office saying they want to be influencers when they grow up.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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