April 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted K-12 education across the globe. In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly challenging for the lowest performing schools, making it difficult to implement ongoing reform efforts in schools already slated for improvement and turnaround. Among those undergoing turnaround were schools being served by Michigan’s Partnership Model of school and district turnaround. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan’s Partnership schools were showing some evidence of improvements in academic outcomes.

In this report, we provide a descriptive look at student achievement in Partnership schools and districts over three distinct periods: pre-turnaround years, pre-pandemic turnaround years, and pandemic-affected turnaround years. We show that students in Partnership schools made gains relative to the rest of the state, although there is clear evidence of disrupted learning,
especially in math.