Absence
Michigan Seniors Had the Highest Absence Rate; Kindergarten Exceeded Grades 1-7
Michigan's 2025 chronic-absence rate was highest in grade 12 and lowest in grade 4, while kindergarten exceeded every grade from 1 through 7.
Michigan
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Michigan, grounded in Michigan Department of Education data.
Michigan's Graduation Rate Rose 3.4 Points; Foster-Care Rate Rose 1.2
Michigan's all-students graduation rate rose 3.4 points from 2018 to 2025, while the foster-care rate rose 1.2 points to 41.6%.
Five Covenant Academies, 631 Students, and Graduation Rates Below 22%
Michigan's 2025 file shows five Covenant-branded charter academies with a combined cohort of 631 and graduation rates from 3.0% to 21.2%.
Michigan's Migrant-Program Chronic Absence Fell for Three Years. The State Improved Faster.
Michigan's migrant-program chronic-absence rate improved after 2022, but the gap with the statewide rate widened to 7.8 points.
Attendance Improved for Michigan Students Experiencing Homelessness. A 30.3-Point Gap Remained.
Michigan's chronic-absence rate improved for students experiencing homelessness, but the housing-status gap remained 30.3 points.
More Coverage
Absence
Detroit Cut Chronic Absence for Three Years. Its Statewide Burden Remains Outsized.
Detroit's chronic-absence rate has fallen for three years, but the district still reports an outsized share of Michigan's total.
Absence
Black Student Attendance Improved 11.7 Points. Michigan's Gap Still Exceeds 2019.
Black student attendance improved after 2022, but Michigan's Black-white chronic-absence gap remains wider than before the pandemic.
Graduation Rate
Michigan Hits 84% Graduation Rate, Its Highest Ever, While the Pipeline Shrinks
Michigan's 4-year graduation rate reached a record 84% in 2025 even as the graduating cohort shrank by one-fifth since 2008.
Budget
Michigan's First Consolidation Grants Funded Buildings, Not District Mergers
Michigan reports 878 districts serving 15% fewer students than in 1996. Its first consolidation grants funded facilities, not district mergers.
School Choice
103 Students to 18,424: Michigan's Virtual Schools Keep Growing
Michigan's virtual school sector has grown 17,787% since 2010. COVID was the accelerant, but post-pandemic enrollment hit a new high in 2025.
District Spotlight
Dearborn Grew While Michigan Shrank. Then It Hit a Wall.
Immigration-fueled growth made Dearborn Michigan's third-largest district. Seven consecutive years of decline now threaten that story.
Grade Shift
Grade 12 Grew While Grade 1 Collapsed
Michigan's K-8 grades lost 229,625 students since 1996 while high school barely moved. The pipeline inversion is just reaching secondary.
District Spotlight
Flint Lost 90% of Its Students. The Water Crisis Was Only One Chapter.
Flint Community Schools enrolled 24,934 students in 1997. In 2025, just 2,541 remain, an 89.8% collapse driven by deindustrialization, school choice, and the water crisis.
Covid Impact
Michigan's 2025 Enrollment Lands Almost Exactly Where the Pre-COVID Trend Predicted
Michigan's 2025 enrollment is within 4,300 students of the trajectory projected before the pandemic. The COVID-era 45,858-student drop sits inside a longer structural decline, not outside it.
Enrollment
One in Four Michigan Districts Hit Record-Low Enrollment
231 of Michigan's 878 districts are at their lowest enrollment on record in 2024-25, a number that tripled in a single year and spans every size category.
