Ann Arbor Public Schools fourth-graders saw their reading proficiency rate fall to 58.4% on the 2026 M-STEP, down from 61.2% a year earlier.

The 2.8-percentage-point decline mirrors a statewide slide in English Language Arts scores released Friday, Sept. 4, by the Michigan Department of Education. Among the 1,243 Ann Arbor fourth-graders tested in spring 2026, roughly four in 10 did not meet the state's proficiency standard, according to MLive's district-level analysis.

Ann Arbor still outpaces the state. The district's rate sits well above the statewide fourth-grade average of 41.3%, which fell from 42.4% in 2025. But the local decline tracks a broader pattern: every ELA test across all grade levels showed a drop in the share of students meeting standards.

The sharpest statewide headline landed in third grade. Only 38.2% of Michigan third-graders scored proficient in reading, down from 38.9% the year before. That is the lowest mark in the 12-year history of the M-STEP, according to Bridge Michigan.

Across grades 3 through 8, just 44% of Michigan students are proficient in reading and 35.5% in math, according to a Chalkbeat Detroit analysis cited by Bridge Michigan.

State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko, who took over the Michigan Department of Education in December 2025, acknowledged the results fall short. "We need to improve the results of all these assessments for our students moving forward," Maleyko said. He added that the state has evidence-based plans to raise student achievement.

The department said most scores were essentially flat, noting all but four of 20 tests stayed within 2 percentage points of 2025 results. Still, students showed improvement on just six of 20 tests, down from 14 in 2025, MLive reported.

Michigan ranked 44th nationally in fourth-grade reading, according to an early 2025 report cited by MLive, placing it among the bottom 10 states for pandemic-era learning loss.

State lawmakers included expanded literacy spending in the $22.9 billion education budget for 2026-27. A new state law requires elementary teachers to complete "science of reading" training by the 2031-32 school year. Dyslexia screening laws passed in 2024 do not fully take effect until 2027.

The full district-level breakdown is available through the state's MISchoolData.org portal.