Snyder Gives Preview Of His Education Reforms

By Rick Pluta

Governor Rick Snyder offered some hints as to what his soon-to-be unveiled education reform plan will look like today in East Lansing at an education conference. He says he wants to empower teachers, and measure the results.

Snyder says student test scores are both "startling and scary," and that Michigan is falling behind the country and the world in preparing young people for life after school.

"We need to do better and that's something we need to focus on and we will," he says.

The governor says he wants to relax school regulations s to give teachers and principals more freedom and responsibility over educational decisions. And then he says the state will measure what happens.

"Think about all the great talent, all the great resources that we have in our system, yet we're not achieving the results that we have to achieve," he says. "We need to put much more focus on proficiency, on growth, on measurements and results than we have had in the past.

"It's about really delivering results for these kids. The whole system has to be geared to say, how do we make sure each and every child in our system gets a good year's education each and every year."      

The governor also says he wants to do more to keep gifted teachers in classrooms, instead of promoting them into administrative positions. He also says he envisions an education system that starts with pre-school and continues past college.

The governor will announce his education reform plans at a press conference Wednesday in Detroit.