LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan is in the middle of the pack when it comes to how the state ranks in empowering parents and educators to foster the best education environment for students.

CER (Center for Education Reform) has been doing the rankings, called “The Parent Power! Index,” for almost three decades and have argued that “parents are the most important ally in any effort for education.” They continue, “Whenever parents are engaged, change occurs. Time and time again, we’ve seen that information in the hands of parents is power…Since the maturity of the World Wide Web, we’ve seen parent engagement soar each year.”

MORE NEWS: Middle East Expert: Americans ‘Lulled’ Into False Sense of Security on Terrorism

The Parent Power! Index measures the extent to which states have policies in place that put students ahead of systems; values the diversity of need and condition of every family; provides vital accessible information; and by doing so affords parents the power to exercise fundamental decisions regarding how their kids are educated. This information gives parents a tool to discover what extent their state affords them this kind of power and what they can do to get it.

When measured by the metrics of CER, Michigan ranked #23 out of the 50 states with a score of 69.9%. CER says, “If Michigan took education as seriously as it takes sports, it might see its parents more motivated and students excelling at higher levels. Thankfully, public school choices have allowed hundreds of thousands of parents in around the Great Lakes to educate their children as they see fit, but we know an average grade isn’t enough and our friends there deserve more.”

Florida was in first place with a score of 94% overall, Arizona was next with 93% and then Indiana with a score of 87%.

Different categories were scored and Michigan’s score went up and down in different areas of criteria that were analyzed. In the category of “Opportunity”, Michigan got a B and a ranking of #4 with a score of 88%. CER says “A pioneer in authorizing with strong university participation, Michigan’s charters are serving diverse populations and bringing families needed choices, but they get heat for the multiple approaches and providers they deploy and are regularly attacked by the unions in the media despite their success.” Michigan has 377 charter schools with 144,258 students attending those schools.

In the field of “Innovation,” Michigan gets a C grade, with a ranking of #23 and a score of 75%. According to CER, “The Michigan Department of Education has a few statewide initiatives to support the transformation to digital learning” and “to promote the collaboration between schools across the state to share and access open educational resources (OER).” They say that 95.2% of students in Michigan can access the internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student and many of the students get connected at higher speeds with 62,021 students who sill need more bandwidth for digital learning.

In the category of “Policy Environment,” Michigan sits in the middle because of differing priorities between the Governor and the state’s Republican legislators in the House and Senate. CER says that Governor Whitmer is “solidly pro education establishment and anti-parent power through her actions.” They say that when the Republican Legislature tried to pass a voucher plan, she vetoed the bills.

MORE NEWS: ‘Very Strange’ UM Lab Case Ends With Guilty Plea and Immediate Deportation

Michigan gets a sold F, ranking #39 with a score of 50% in the category of Choice Programs (Scholarships, vouchers, tax credits, etc). There are NO Choice programs in the state of Michigan.

Looking at Michigan’s COVID-19 response, Michigan sits at a 50% score. The CER says that “Gov. Whitmer announced on March 12 that schools would close for four weeks. The closure was extended on April 2nd for the remainder of the school year. State officials took steps to ensure students were continuing to learn and had access to devices and the internet. They also offered professional development for teachers, gave guidance on learning, including ESL and special needs and provided resources on a new website.” However, they lacked a statewide plan to expand device/internet access. And although unions protested, Gov. Whitmer permitted the schools to reopen for the fall with some school districts opting into online learning instead.

In the field of transparency, Michigan gets high marks. CER says, “School report cards are early accessible from the Michigan DOE homepage under School Performance and Supports. The Parent Dashboard for School Transparency provides important data on student performance, student progress, graduation, college & career readiness and more. Data is formatted in clear, colorful charts and easy to understand. Charts also include data from previous school years, a great feature for measuring annual school progress. Additionally, educational options are directly on the DOE homepage under Flexible Learning Options which is a plus for transparency. School board elections are during the general election cycle which gives parents more power in their decision making because of higher voter turnout.”

Teacher quality, arguably the most important category in the study for most parents, has Michigan ranked #21 with a C grade and a score of 74%. CER says Michigan is “Generally lacking in teacher preparation rigor, including subject-matter knowledge requirements” and “collects limited growth data to measure effectiveness of teacher prep programs.”

Some other important numbers from CER concerning the education of Michigan children comes in at a dismal rate. Fourth grade math proficiency is 32% and 8th grade is 26%. Fourth grade reading proficiency is 28% and 8th grade is 28%.