Article courtesy of MIRS for SBAM’s Lansing Watchdog newsletter
Michigan third-grade reading proficiency dropped to another record low this year, prompting education advocates to call for a more targeted school funding model, while a conservative group blamed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and urged Michigan to participate in a new federal education tax-credit program.
For its part, Department of Education (MDE) officials stressed calm, noting that numerous reforms like the signing of the 2024 literacy and dyslexia law need time to work.
Only 38.2% of Michigan third-graders scored proficient in English language arts on the 2026 M-STEP, down from 38.9% last year and the lowest result in the test’s 12-year history. Reading proficiency also declined from 2025 in grades four through seven. Across grades 3-8, about 44% of students were proficient in reading and 35.5% in math.
Outside of reading, results were largely stagnant. MDE reported that 16 of 20 statewide proficiency rates were within 2 percentage points of last year, with most moving less than a percentage point. Math scores increased in third and sixth grade, fell in fifth grade and were essentially flat in fourth and seventh grade.
State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko acknowledged the results aren’t where state officials want them, but said recently-enacted changes in literacy instruction haven’t been in place long enough to be reflected in tests students took last spring.
“We need to increase proficiency rates in all subject areas and show steady improvement over time,” Maleyko said.
MDE pointed specifically to literacy and dyslexia legislation enacted in late 2024 that is still being implemented, as well as laws approved in July requiring Science of Reading professional development for elementary teachers and training for faculty in teacher preparation programs. The department said more than 7,600 educators already have voluntarily completed LETRS Science of Reading training and more than $150 million in literacy grants have been awarded as the state rolls out approved reading curricula, assessments and interventions.
EdTrust-Midwest State Director Brian L. Love, meanwhile, called the scores an “urgent call to action” and focused on large proficiency gaps involving low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities.
According to EdTrust’s analysis, only 25% of low-income third-graders were proficient in reading and 19% were proficient in seventh-grade math. Fewer than one-quarter of English learners were proficient in third-grade reading, while just 12% reached proficiency in seventh-grade math.
Love argued the state needs to put more money behind the Opportunity Index, created in 2023 to direct additional funding to districts with higher concentrations of poverty. EdTrust maintains the formula is $1.31 billion short of the funding level contemplated in state law.
“These funding gaps have consequences, as today’s results demonstrate,” Love said.
The organization also called for additional support for English learners and implementation of recommendations from the Michigan Blueprint for Special Education Finance Reform, including a weighted funding formula based on students’ needs.
But Love said additional money by itself won’t solve the problem. EdTrust also wants greater fiscal accountability over how school dollars are spent and continued implementation of Science of Reading requirements, including stronger professional development and the use of research-backed instructional materials, screenings and interventions.
From the other side of the policy debate, the conservative Michigan Forward Network used the declining reading scores to criticize Whitmer-era education policies, including the repeal of Michigan’s third-grade reading retention law and the state’s former A-F school grading system. Michigan Forward describes its mission as advancing “conservative values and policies.”
Michigan Forward spokesperson Gabe Butzke said responsibility for the results extends from the governor to the State Board of Education and school administrators.
“Adults have failed our kids, plain and simple,” Butzke said. “From the State Board of Education to administrators and the governor, our students have been left behind while they chose to prioritize their own agendas.”
The organization also renewed its call for Whitmer to opt Michigan into the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, which is scheduled to begin nationally in January. The program provides a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 to taxpayers who donate to approved scholarship-granting organizations, which can then provide money for expenses including tutoring, books and private-school tuition. Michigan has not joined the program.
Michigan Forward argued the program could provide additional tutoring, literacy assistance and other help to struggling students. Public-school organizations have opposed Michigan’s participation, arguing the program could effectively steer federal resources toward private education.
The competing reactions leave broad agreement on at least one point: Michigan’s current student proficiency levels aren’t good enough.
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