This week, members of the Senate Republican Caucus announced their plan aimed at improving childhood learning and supporting K-12 teachers statewide. Named the “MI Brighter Future,” it includes measures to help students gain access to additional resources and learning opportunities, requires proven training methods for educators, gives parents more control over their child’s progress, makes changes to teacher evaluations, and provides performance-based bonuses.
The four pillars of the MI Brighter Future plan are:
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- Strengthen key provisions of the third grade reading law, require student progress to be part of every teacher’s evaluation process, and restore the A-F grading scale for parents to easily understand how schools are performing.
- Provide bonuses to highly effective teachers who take positions in schools where they can have the biggest impact.
- Scholarship opportunities to help families afford additional educational assistance and help cover the costs of summer or after-school reading programs.
- Train teachers in proven phonics-based reading methods that have worked for decades.