Posts tagged Tennesseans for Quality Early Education

    Birch Run teachers union president decries state testing

    January 25, 2026 // Test scores from M-STEP, Michigan’s assessment of public school students, paint an unfavorable picture of Urbanowski-Nowak’s district. More than two-thirds (68%) of third graders at Birch Run Area Schools were not proficient on the English Language Arts exam in 2024-25. Two-thirds (66%) of the district’s third-grade students were not proficient in math in 2024-25. Research by the group Tennesseans for Quality Early Education concludes that proficiency in reading and math by the end of third grade is one of the strongest predictors of future academic achievement and career success.