News
Nearly 28% of Michigan students were chronically absent during the 2024-25 school year, the third consecutive year the rate has dropped.
But the rate is still significantly higher than it was before the pandemic began, when 19.7% of students were chronically absent during the 2018-19 school year, according to data released Wednesday by the state Center for Educational Performance and Information.
Persistent high levels of absenteeism are slowing students’ academic recovery after the disruptions to schooling brought on by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (Dewey et al., 2025). Even several years after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened levels of chronic absenteeism continue to be one of district leaders’ top concerns.
Artistic crests representing wolf dens are everywhere at West Elementary: in school windows, hallways, in the cafeteria, and on T-shirts, banners and artwork.
They symbolize the school’s new den system, with the names Lobos, Mahigan, Tikkani and Obahoshe — all indigenous words for “wolves” — into which the school’s 500 students in grades kindergarten through fourth grade are divided.
Marlee-Ami Sierz said she knows how difficult it can be to struggle with mental health issues.
The Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy junior sat on a student panel Tuesday in Lansing titled “Addressing Mental Health Through Authentic Student Voice.” She told educators and legislators what schools can do to reach students like her who may need a kind word, support or just to feel seen.
I hated to go underwater when I was a kid. I wasn’t the most proficient swimmer, but I could make my way across a pool without panicking. But venturing under the surface? Just the thought of it made my legs conveniently cramp up, ensuring me a seat on the side of the pool.
As students stream into her classroom at Grandville Middle School and find their seats, Courtney Gritter switches off the overhead lights and switches on a colorful disco ball in the corner of the room.
Emotional and mental health is essential for student achievement, but many students are struggling. Research shows that when students receive social-emotional and mental health support, they perform better academically. Students do not always receive the support they need to thrive, however. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, mental health issues are increasing among schoolaged children, and rates of suicide for youth ages 10 to 19 are on the rise.
With the current shift in U.S. education policies putting a priority on social-emotional learning (SEL), the importance of teachers and schools having SEL resources -- proven to create positive student outcomes -- is growing rapidly. As the new goals and guidelines are implemented in accordance with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools have, unfortunately, been flooded with instructional guides, curriculum advice, and other implementation options that are founded on minimal research or unproven outcomes.