The Skillman Foundation

Detroit youth are optimistic about their future, but feel unprepared

In a 2020 survey of Detroit middle and high school-aged youth, 9 in 10 (92%) reported high levels of optimism about their future. But fewer than half (45%) felt confident that they would be prepared for what’s next after high school. According to the World Economic Forum, Futures of Job Survey, young people will need skills like analytical and creative thinking; resilience, flexibility, and agility; motivation; curiosity; and a lifelong orientation to learning to compete in an increasingly global economy.

Detroit’s education system is part of a faltering statewide education system

The current education system that serves Detroit youth is neither equitable nor excellent.

Our focus on transforming the education system is driven by 1) a deep data-informed analysis of the deficiencies in Detroit’s education system as the single greatest barrier to pathways of economic prosperity and 2) an awareness that public education is the greatest public investment at scale to support children and youth. 

While there is much focus on the challenges of Detroit’s education system, it’s clear that Detroit is the canary in the coalmine, signaling that Michigan’s education system on the whole is antiquated and inequitable. Black students are consistently the most under-resourced across all geographies in the state. Moreover, the outcomes of Michigan’s education system for all students when compared to others across the country raise deep concern about the readiness of our state’s students to be prepared to meet the challenges of a complex, rapidly changing global economy. 

Policy shapes the system; People shape the policy

Policy change—from design and negotiation to resourcing and implementation—can shift the system in profound ways, enabling better, long-term academic outcomes for Detroit students. Policy decisions are made at multiple levels: school districts (traditional and charter), cities, counties, and states (which are constitutionally responsible for providing a public education system). Policies determine the rules, practices, and resources for public K-12 schools, and to a degree, out-of-school-time learning.

Education policy decision-making is complicated and full of competing influences and voices

Our studies have shown that crucial decisions are often made by those who operate with limited information, capacity, or proximity to the needs of the people most impacted, especially youth. Such decision-making continues to constrain the system. The ways that decisions are made—often with limited information, by a rotating set of actors, and among the legitimate competition of differing needs, priorities, and interests—tend to center a focus on the short-term win (or loss). There is a critical need for structures and alignment across influencers to hold a long-term shared vision and spaces for different voices to be heard and engaged more fully.

Changing the education system takes all of us, working together  

Transforming the education system requires collaboration across many sectors in aligned ways to drive meaningful progress toward becoming a more equitable and excellent education system. Detroiters rightfully have skepticism, based on their own lived experiences, that education policy change is possible and could ultimately benefit them.  

Michigan’s education culture is challenging. Our history of silver-bullet solutions has created havoc for educators, students, and families. Education policy debates have become increasingly politicized and mired in divisiveness, obscuring the reality that a strong education system for all students is key to our shared prosperity and well-being.

Yet, we’ve seen the power of what happens when an ecosystem of educators, families, and state and local policymakers come together for the shared purpose of improving Detroit’s education system. Our work to co-create the Coalition for the Future of Detroit School Children was an example. From that single coalition, a shared education vision emerged, new nonprofits were created, and bipartisan collaboration was achieved that remains active today. And so, we have seen in our own history that despite the politicization and divisiveness of the times, Detroiters can come together to re-imagine a strong education system for all students that is key to our shared prosperity and well-being.