St. Joe-Benton Harbor News

There was a decrease in the number of Decatur Public Schools students considered ready for math classes in college in the 2021-22 school year, according to the MI School Data. Based on their performance on the math portion of the SAT, 11.1% of the students were set for college during the school year.

Similarly, college-level math readiness in Decatur Public Schools the year before was 12.1%.

Decatur Public Schools ranked third lowest in college readiness for math this year, compared to other districts in Van Buren County. In the previous year, it was ranked second lowest.

Overall, students in Michigan are still performing below pre-pandemic levels. According to the test results, their scores are on average 4.5% lower than the pre-pandemic levels.

A recent study in the state suggested this could be caused by remote schooling. Students who learned remotely experienced more learning loss compared to those who attended in-person classes during the pandemic.

"This is hurting kids in ways we can't even imagine, and not just academically," Senator Thomas Albert said during his time as the House Appropriations Chairman. "The disruption of sports and other extracurricular activities also takes a major toll. It's going to take years for some of these students to recover academically."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was criticized for trying to address these academic failures by using more tutors in the public school system.

"Relying only on the system that caused academic and mental health setbacks is not looking out for the best interest of children," Jamie A. Hope wrote in the Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Due to the suspension of state assessments, SAT data for the 2019-20 academic year are not available.

Rank	District	Math average score overall
1	Mattawan Consolidated School	514.9
2	Paw Paw Public School District	447.2
3	South Haven Public Schools	445.4
4	Lawrence Public Schools	443.7
5	Lawton Community School District	441.2
6	Michigan Online School	418.6
7	Decatur Public Schools	415.3
8	Bloomingdale Public School District	413.3
9	Hartford Public Schools	408.7