The Skillman Foundation

Rigorous coursework plays an important role in preparing students for success after high school by exposing them to college-level expectations, strengthening academic skills, and increasing access to postsecondary opportunities. Yet, access to these opportunities remains highly uneven across Michigan. Districts across the state continue to struggle with limited course availability, staffing challenges, and persistent enrollment disparities.

That’s the central finding of EdTrust-Midwest’s new report, Ready for Rigor: Expanding Access to Rigorous Coursework in Michigan. The research examines Michigan student access to rigorous coursework opportunities like Advanced Placement (AP) courses, dual enrollment, and career and technical education. The report also examines the roles that school counseling, early literacy, and math readiness play in shaping students’ long-term success.

The numbers tell a troubling story. Students in Michigan’s wealthiest districts have, on average, over seven times more AP course options than students in the highest poverty districts. Michigan’s Black and Latino students, students with disabilities, and English Learners are less likely to be enrolled in AP courses than their white peers. As it relates to dual enrollment, Michigan’s participation lags the national rate, and students of color are under-represented among dual enrollment participants. Researchers also found that Michigan students often have fewer rigorous coursework options than their peers in other states, and that longstanding opportunity gaps continue to leave many students at a disadvantage.

These gaps have consequences: research is clear that when students are given access to advanced coursework, they are more engaged, miss fewer days of school, face fewer suspensions, and are more likely to graduate and pursue education beyond high school.

Students deserve access to opportunities that give them real choices in their academic and career journeys, not pathways limited by unequal access to courses, counseling, and support. As the report makes clear, when Michigan expands equitable access to rigorous coursework, students are better positioned to graduate with the knowledge, skills, and options they need for what comes next.

Detroit is already leading the way in reimagining what a meaningful high school experience can look like. In May, Detroit Public Schools Community District announced that starting this fall, 9th graders in 11 neighborhood schools will choose from one of five diploma pathways tailored to their goals and interests. Options include an Honors pathway with AP opportunities, a Dual Degree pathway that allows students to earn both a diploma and an associate’s degree, and a Career Ready pathway that prepares students with the credentials they need to enter the workforce after graduation. This approach recognizes that students pursue a variety of pathways after high school and ensures they have the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in whichever path they choose.

There is a clear roadmap forward for expanding access and reducing barriers. Our recommendations include adopting automatic enrollment in advanced coursework policies for qualifying students, continuing and streamlining reimbursements for advanced coursework exam fees, creating stronger statewide funding mechanisms for dual enrollment, investing in high-quality career and technical education, strengthening the school counselor pipeline, and implementing a FAFSA completion graduation requirement with meaningful guardrails and support for families.

Detroit’s students, and students across the state, deserve a high school experience that treats them as capable, as college- and career-ready, and as worthy of the highest expectations. Expanding access to rigorous coursework is not a luxury. It is a matter of equity and an investment in the future of our state.