Words With Friends

Results from the 2025 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) show that 60 percent of Washtenaw County’s third-graders categorized as economically disadvantaged—including those who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, whose families receive food aid, and foster children, among other categories—scored in the lowest level for English Language Arts, compared with 26 percent of all students. Narrowing such disparities requires interventions with individual students that schools may not be equipped to handle on their own.