LANSING, Mich. — Fewer than four in 10 Michigan third graders can read at grade level, and the slide did not happen overnight. It has been a slow leak that started well before the pandemic.
On the spring 2026 state test, 38.2% of third graders reached proficiency in English language arts, the weakest result for that grade since the test began 12 years ago. In 2015, half of third graders cleared that bar.
The drop came in small steps. Proficiency fell 4.9 points from 2015 to 2019, another 4.2 points by 2023, and from 40.9% to 38.2% over the last three reported years. In all, that is 11.8 points, close to a quarter of where the state began. Put the other way, about 62% of third graders are not proficient.
Experts point to several causes. Many schools long relied on balanced literacy, which nudged children to guess words from pictures and context, while research now favors explicit phonics paired with fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, known as the science of reading. Local control means Michigan schools use 444 different reading curricula, according to a study from Michigan State University. School funding also fell by roughly 23% after inflation in the decade following 2002, and frequent swings in state leadership have made it hard to stick with one plan.
Public awareness lags too. Polling presented at this year’s Mackinac Policy Conference found 58.8% of residents were unaware of the state’s low national ranking in reading.
The state says help is still arriving. The Michigan Department of Education is rolling out literacy and dyslexia laws signed in 2024 and 2026, and says the spring test results do not yet reflect them. Under the 2024 law the department has awarded more than $150 million in each of two grant rounds to more than 500 districts for reading materials. Starting in September 2027, college teacher-prep programs must train future educators to spot dyslexia and other reading struggles.
Most statewide proficiency rates were essentially flat from 2025, with 16 of 20 tests moving 2 points or less, according to the department, which posts district and school results at mischooldata.org.
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Filed under: Lansing MI Education News
