This article originally appeared in Bridge Michigan March 4, 2026.

Standardized test scores for Michigan students are on an alarming downward trend. Yet high school graduation rates are rising. These conflicting trends raise serious questions about the standards public schools use to measure academic success.

Instead of bragging about the graduation rate, state leaders ought to ask whether the state’s decision to lower or eliminate standards for both students and teachers means Michigan schools are graduating more students who are not prepared.

The state’s graduation rate reached a record high in 2025, as 84.01% of students graduated after completing four years of high school. Just 10 years earlier, only 79.65% of students graduated with the class of 2016.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District reported its highest graduation rate last year, too. The district graduated 83.15% of students in the 2025 cohort, a substantial increase from 78.09% in 2024 and 78.3% in 2016.

Meanwhile, student performance and college readiness have been declining or flatlining for years. The percentage of students in grades 3 to 7 who scored proficient or higher in English language arts dropped over the past decade, from 47% in 2016 to 41% in 2025, according to state M-STEP results. In math, proficiency rates dropped from 38% to 36% over the same period.

High school standardized test results show similar trends in student achievement. College readiness in reading and math, measured by the SAT in 11th grade, has declined over the past 10 years. Only 26.6% of students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks in 2025, when average reading and math scores were combined. In 2016, 34.9% of students who took the SAT achieved this standard.

In Detroit, the student achievement trend is more dire. While graduation rates in the state’s largest district soared to record levels in 2025, only 13.2% of high school students met or exceeded college readiness benchmarks in reading and math – the same percentage as ten years earlier. Only 15% and 12% of Detroit students in grades 3 to 7 scored proficient or higher on the state English and math tests, respectively.

Rising graduation rates coupled with declining achievement should raise the question: Are public schools lowering their standards for measuring student success?

“Let’s keep working together to boost Michigan’s graduation rate and help every young person ‘make it’ in Michigan.” Gov. Whitmer told The Detroit News.

But the data show that simply graduating more students is not the answer to helping them “make it” in college and beyond. If academic standards are lowered, students graduate high school without the skills needed to thrive.

When schools and educators are held to high standards for academic performance, their students are more likely to learn the skills they need for future success. Unfortunately, Whitmer repealed laws intended to do just that.

In 2023, the state legislature watered down the teacher evaluation system, making it harder to recruit, retain and develop highly effective teachers. Students are now more likely to be placed in a classroom with lower-quality teachers — and they are less likely to reach their potential.

The governor repealed the Read by Grade Three law that year, too. As a result, third-grade students are promoted to fourth grade regardless of whether they can read. Students who can’t read easily struggle to master the more advanced subject material in fourth grade and future years.

The A-F school grades law was also repealed under the governor’s watch. Without real measures of school performance, districts are less likely to be held accountable for student achievement. Mississippi and other states are moving in the opposite direction. They have adopted rigorous performance standards and demonstrated substantial achievement gains. Michigan should follow their example. Graduation rates don’t mean a whole lot if they do not reflect students’ success at meeting the basic standards of education.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.