Education Policy Speaker Series

A Conversation with Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Michael Rice

Dr. Michael Rice was appointed Michigan’s 44th Superintendent of Public Instruction by Michigan’s State Board of Education in May 2019.

Since his appointment as state superintendent, Dr. Rice has led the revamping of the state’s Top 10 Strategic Education Plan, with defined goals and associated metrics; provided steady guidance and leadership through a global pandemic; and focused educators and policymakers on ways to improve inputs, outputs, and outcomes for children.

Dr. Rice came to the Michigan Department of Education after serving 17 years as a local district superintendent–most recently for 12 years in the Kalamazoo (MI) Public Schools. Under his leadership, the district began full-day pre-kindergarten and quintupled the number of full-day kindergarten students; improved student achievement in all strategic plan goal areas: reading, writing, math, Advanced Placement participation and success, and graduation rates; grew by more than 11 percent; began four new schools; passed all ten voter questions; and built its first three new schools in more than a third of a century. Advanced Placement participation more than doubled districtwide, and more than tripled for all historically under-represented groups.

Prior to serving as Kalamazoo’s superintendent, Dr. Rice served five years as superintendent of the Clifton (NJ) Public Schools. Dr. Rice began his career in public education in the Washington, D.C. Public Schools, where he taught high school French and founded and coached an award-winning speech and debate program. He graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology with honors and from New York University with a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in public administration, also with honors.