LANSING – If Michigan wants to stop its slide in educational performance, it needs to be sure schools are using research-based education programs and it needs to provide the funds to fully implement those programs, the Education Trust-Midwest said in a report released Thursday.

The report, Stalled to Soaring: Michigan’s Path to Educational Recovery, put Michigan in the bottom five among states for learning progress, being among only six states to lose ground in fourth grade reading achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

“What’s happening in our state is not right – and it must change,” Amber Arellano, executive director of Ed Trust-Midwest, said in a statement announcing the report.

“Michiganders have worked hard to overcome our economic recession,” she said. “Today we must focus on another recession – an education recession. Our children are just as bright as the children in other states. What needs to change is our collective decision-making – as parents, citizens, and education and policy leaders.”

The report found that Michigan has lost ground in achievement overall and for nearly every ethnic and socio-economic group compared to other states.

Performance was also about even across traditional schools and charters, the report found.

The group highlighted Massachusetts as a model for the state. Among that state’s programs, the report said, is an effort to move funds to low-income districts and to provide teachers with professional development.

“By 2005, Massachusetts citizens’ and leaders’ commitment, hard work, and investment had paid off. Across all tested subjects on the NAEP, Massachusetts was at or near the top of the country for all students and high-performing for most student groups, as well,” the report said, adding the state has since expanded on those efforts.

The state led the nation in 8th grade mathematics and 4th grade reading, the report showed.

Arellano is scheduled to be one of the speakers at next week’s State Board of Education meeting, as the board continues its exploration of the cost of educating students in the state. The board will also hear from Laura Spaulding from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com