Sarah Lenhoff, associate professor and researcher for the College of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, quoted in Macomb Daily, “In person classes this fall are likely to impact school enrollment numbers”
Macomb Daily, 7/10
In person classes this fall are likely to impact school enrollment numbers
By Gina Joseph
When coronavirus cases were skyrocketing back in March, tens of thousands of students went missing from Michigan public schools. Statewide, Michigan’s fall enrollment shrank by 53,200 students, or 3.7%, according to unaudited enrollment data newly compiled by the state. That’s twice as many students as the state lost during 2009-2010, the last year of the Great Recession, which was the largest drop in more than a decade. Among the largest portion of students not showing up for school were kindergartners, whose statewide enrollment fell 13,000, a decline more than two times larger than downturns in other grades. Following a pattern that emerged nationwide this fall, many families opted to keep their young children in day care or at home rather than attempt to help their 5-year-olds learn online. In Detroit, kindergartners and first graders accounted for 75% of the decline in the city alone, according to Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, a professor and researcher at Wayne State University.