State of Opportunity

Three little-known facts about charter schools in Michigan

Dustin Dwyer — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:03:51 +0000

Today, on State of Opportunity, I report on a troubling fact of charter school expansion in Michigan: Some of the state's best charter schools are struggling to compete against low-performing charter schools. The reason, simply enough, is marketing.

Michigan locking up fewer kids, but is that good enough?

Sarah Alvarez — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:19:41 +0000

Fewer teens and kids are incarcerated now in Michigan than fifteen years ago. A new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation says youth incarceration in the state has dropped 44 percent since 1997.

Stockbridge Series: Economic hardship makes college readiness mean something different

Sarah Alvarez — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:54:30 +0000

In the last piece in the Stockbridge series, State of Opportunity explores how the schools in Stockbridge, Michigan have in some ways a sad task in educating their youth.

Because Stockbridge is a rural village with very little economic opportunity, preparing kids to succeed often means preparing them to leave town.

Teachers and administrators at the high school there don't think it's enough to try to prepare their students for college. College is expensive, and though most of the kids will pursue higher education of one kind or another, paying for it can be tough.

So teacher Duane Watson and a few others are heavily invested in technical education. Watson has three rooms he teaches in, to call them classrooms might give the wrong impression. In one of them, the only desks are broken ones people hope his students will fix.

The classroom is actually a garage and I was impressed three full cars could fit inside it before Watson corrected me.

“Four actually, and one compact utility tractor, a snowplow going on a truck, a completely student fabricated tandem-axle trailer, and an alternative fuel vehicle-a battery powered golf cart." He said as he laughed about the golf cart experiment.

This shop is part of a serious effort by Watson and the schools in Stockbridge to keep technical classes from slipping out of the curriculum, like they have at a lot of other places. Plenty of the equipment in the auto shop was donated by schools who shut their programs down.

Finish the story and listen to it and the work of the Stockbridge youth journalists at State of Opportunity.

Stateside: State of Opportunity looks at Stockbridge

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:55:46 +0000

The following is a summary of a previously recorded interview. To hear the complete segment, click the audio above.

All this week, Michigan Radio is airing a special series of reports exploring the schools and the educational opportunities in Stockbridge, Michigan. It's part of the “State of Opportunity” project.

Stockbridge is a village about mid-way between Ann Arbor and Lansing. Like so many towns and villages around Michigan, the economy has taken a beating, industry has gone, and the school system is one of the few ways kids from Stockbridge can get a leg up.

Cindy talked with Sarah Alvarez from the “State of Opportunity” team about what can be learned from this rural town, and its efforts to make sure its kids get a great education, even in the face of shrinking state aid and a tough economy.

The Stockbridge series of reports will air during Morning Edition and All Things Considered all this week. This is a part of Michigan Radio’s “State of Opportunity” project, looking at ways to break the cycle of poverty and build opportunities for Michigan’s most disadvantaged children.

State of Opportunity is funded by a great from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

There are two ways you can podcast "Stateside with Cynthia Canty"

'We want the whole $140 million': The push for more early education funding

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Clarification: We've updated the story to make the funding comparisons more clear.

In his State of the State address last week, Governor Snyder called for $1.2 billion a year over the next ten years to address the “toughest single issue” of 2013: roads.

At the same time, Snyder called for an increase in funding to early childhood education.

The governor mentioned the 29,000 four-year-olds eligible for a spot in the state’s Great Start Readiness preschool program (GSRP).

Saving money and upward mobility go hand-in-hand

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:30:00 +0000

The amount of money you save can have a big impact on your child's life.

State of Opportunity's Jennifer Guerra recently spoke with Erin Currier, director of the Pew Economic Mobility Project to learn more. According to Currier, a child is more likely to move up the income ladder when his/her parents are able to develop their own assets.

For 20 year-old Monique Norton, 2013 is all about developing her own assets. She's made it her New Year's resolution to save $4,000 by the summer. So far she's saved a little more than half.

Norton wants to use the money to provide a better life for her son, six-month old Jamar. For Norton, this means buying a decent used car and moving out of her mother's subsidized housing complex in Battle Creek.

How a Nobel Prize-winning economist became an advocate for preschool

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:00:00 +0000

There's a growing consensus that more needs to be done to prepare children for kindergarten.

But does preschool really have a significant impact on the lives of children? State of Opportunity's Dustin Dwyer recently sat down with economist James Heckman to find out.

Five things to know about early childhood brain development

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:00:00 +0000

There's a lot of research that shows just how important the first few years of a child's life are to their cognitive development. But for those of us who aren't medical doctors the information can be rather confusing.

One woman's fight to end the cycle of poverty

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Economic mobility for Americans at the bottom of the income scale seems to be fading. Today more than 40 percent of children born into poverty stay in poverty as adults.

State of Opportunity's Jennifer Guerra profiles one woman trying hard to be on the right side of that statistic.

What this election means for low-income families

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:00:00 +0000

After months of political rancor and over $2 billion raised, the 2012 presidential race is almost over. Yet with only six days left until Election Day, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have largely ignored the issue of poverty.

How to avoid burnout and help more people

Sarah Alvarez — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:16:12 +0000

Health insurance is such a political issue, talked about all the time and so dispassionately, that it can be easy to forget just how important it is to some families. But, last year the Census estimated paying for health care pushed at least 10 million Americans into poverty.

State of Opportunity: Special call-in show today at 2 p.m.

Jennifer White and Mercedes Mejia — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 14:53:22 +0000

Join us this afternoon at 2 p.m. for a special call-in show. We'll examine the disparities that exist in our society, and how they make it more difficult for children to break out of the cycle of poverty.

Michigan Radio reporters are working on a new three-year initiative to explore the issue of children living in poverty here Michigan. State of Opportunity captures the stories of children and families struggling to make ends meet. We’re going beyond the statistics and exploring what it takes to make Michigan a place where our every kid have a chance to build a positive future.

“Our project kind of has two ways at looking at these issues. We look at statistics, we look at data, and we look at trends. But then when we talk to the individuals, the individual stories don’t always match up with those trends,” reporter Dustin Dwyer said.

Reporter Jennifer Guerra is currently working on a documentary about the infant mortality rate in the state. She says the information she found was staggering. “Infant mortality is still a big problem in Michigan. We’re above the national average for the past twenty years,” she said.

Census to release poverty numbers showing America likely back at 1965 levels

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:52:46 +0000

State of Opportunity is covering tomorrow's announcement of poverty estimates by the Census Bureau. The numbers will show how many Americans lived in poverty during 2011.

9-year-old Leah Rice is "Live from the kitchen!"

Mark Brush — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:18:33 +0000

Today, the State of Opportunity team turned their microphone over to 9-year-old Leah Rice.

She reflects on her family, highlights of her summer and her thoughts on going back to school.

(She was placed in an advanced class, to which she says "uh, Boo-yah!".)

You can hear Leah's story here.

State of Opportunity: Michigan's most disturbing disparity

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:29:53 +0000

In Grand Rapids, African American infants are just slightly more likely to survive to their first birthday than infants born in the Gaza Strip. Six years ago, Grand Rapids had the worst infant mortality rate in the state. Today, it is sixth.