Demanding Honest Standards: Aligning Educator Evaluations with Student Achievement

Michiganders may be scratching their heads at a state report claiming nearly 100% of its public school teachers are effective.

The state released its teacher ratings for the 2024-25 school year, which ranked a whopping 98% of K-12 teachers as effective.

The report doesn’t explain why student outcomes are still abysmal. 

According to spring 2025 standardized testing, less than half (41%) of elementary students can read at grade level and only 36% are proficient in math. Among 11th graders, scores aren’t much better, with 55% passing muster in reading and a meager 28% in math. 

Molly Macek, education policy director at Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy, blames local districts for not rating teachers accurately. 

“There is a significant disconnect between what the teacher evaluation is supposed to be measuring and what the [ratings] produce,” Macek told The Lion. “It sends the message that [parents] really can’t trust this data that the districts are sharing as an accurate reflection of how their school or the teachers are actually doing.”