Michigan's school accountability systems use statewide student assessment scores and other quality metrics to provide transparency on school performance for all Michigan public schools. School accoutability systems help parents, communities, and policymakers measure school quality to make decisions and target resources to help students achieve. Michigan has multiple accountability systems for its public schools, each provided and detailed in the links below, that provide important information for different purposes and to different audiences.

Following the actions taken by the US Department of Education on Michigan's waivers, this document provides clarifications on Michigan's assessment and accountability requirements for the 2020-21 school year.

The federal requirements for school accountability in Michigan have been waived for the 2020-21 school year due to the disruption of instruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal requirement to administer state summative asssessments in Michigan for Spring 2021 have not been waived despite the disruption of instruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 updates and information related to Michigan school accountability; updated 4/7/2021.

View archives of the weekly Assessment and Accountability newsletter or subscribe at www.mi.gov/mde-spotlight.

The Parent Dashboard for School Transparency provides a complete picture of more than 20 different factors that parents say are important to them about Michigan public schools. Families can use the Dashboard to compare a school’s performance with the performance of other similar Michigan schools.

The Michigan School Index System provides an overall index value ranging from 0-100 for each school based on: student growth, proficiency, graduation rates, English learner progress, attendance rates, advanced coursework completion, postsecondary enrollment, and staffing ratios.

The Michigan School Grades System annually assigns each public school in Michigan letter grades and ranking labels, based on the school's performance in up to eight areas.

The Annual Education Report (AER) provides detailed information on teacher quality, student assessment and accountability, and other educational information for schools, districts, and the state in one convenient place.

Section 31a of the State School Aid Act provides categorical funding to schools for the intent and purposes focused on the following student outcomes: attending school regularly, reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade, being proficient in mathematics by the end of 8th grade, and being career and college ready by high school graduation.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

Fact sheets, school lists, and technical assistance information on schools identified by Michigan school accountability systems for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), Additional Targeted Support (ATS), and Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI).

Data reporting guide for trouble-free accountability; updated 11/16/2020.

A whitepaper on policy considerations and long-term educational goals based on recent Michigan School Index System results; new 7/18/2019.

MI School Data is the State of Michigan's official public portal for education data, offering multiple levels and views presented in graphs, charts, trend lines, and downloadable spreadsheets to support meaningful evaluation and decision making.

All information pertinent to requesting Michigan education data sets for audits, evaluations, and studies of education programs in Michigan are available through MERI (www.miedresearch.org), the State of Michigan's research partnership with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

Historical school accountability data and results provided back to 2001-02, including Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs), Top-to-Bottom Rankings (TTB), Scorecards, and more.

For support with Michigan School Accountability initiatives and data, please email MDE-Accountability@michigan.gov or call 877-560-8378, option 3.