Detroit Public Schools Community District Continues to Set Record Highs, Outpaces the State, and Narrows the Gap on 2026 State Assessments

DETROIT, September 4, 2026 — Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) students achieved the District's highest proficiency rates on record in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math across grades 3-8 on the 2025-26 M-STEP and PSAT 8. The 2025-26 results, released today by the Michigan Department of Education, show record proficiency in Math in every grade from 3 through 8, record proficiency in ELA in five of those six grades, and a record high for grade 11 students on the SAT Math. These results represent a broader trend: the District keeps improving while the State average, on most of these measures, does not. Since 2017-18, DPSCD has narrowed the gap between its proficiency rates and the State's by 7 percentage points in grades 3-8 ELA (from 32 points to 25), 10 in grades 3-8 Math (from 31 to 21), 10 in SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (from 27 to 17), and 14 in SAT Math (from 25 to 11).

Highlights:

• Grades 3-8 Math set record highs in every grade. Proficiency improved by 3 percentage points from last year while the State was nearly flat. Since 2017-18, the District has narrowed the gap from 31 points to 21 (10 percentage points).
• Reading set a record for the fourth year in a row. Proficiency improved by 1 percentage point from last year while the State fell 1. Since 2017-18, the District has narrowed the gap with the State from 32 points to 25 (7 percentage points)
• Grade 11 students closed more than half of the SAT math gap. College readiness improved by 2 percentage points on SAT Math from last year while the State fell 1. Since 2017-18, the District has narrowed the gap from 25 points to 11 (14 percentage points), and in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing from 27 to 17 (10 percentage points)
• Social Studies and Science continued to climb, driven by improvements in grade 11. From last year, Social Studies proficiency rose by 4 percentage points while the State rose less than 1, and Science rose by 1 while the State fell slightly.

“I am proud of our leaders, teachers, and support staff as they demonstrate another year of improvement. While students across the state (and country) continue to regress academically, our students are improving. This is continuing proof that DPSCD has invested more strategically and differently in our teachers, curriculum, student interventions, and wraparound services for students and families. I continue to be excited about the way we are narrowing the gap between our students and the rest of the state. With that said, I continue to look to the future about how we accelerate the narrowing of that gap, especially in literacy, because our students have the talent to do so; we just need to continue to refine and scale the successes that have blossomed across the District to each school and classroom.” said Superintendent, Dr. Nikolai P. Vitti.

“This year, more of our students advanced than did not, a testament to the teachers who stayed past the bell, the families who held the line at the kitchen table, and a city that keeps investing in its children. Progress isn’t the same as arrival. Math shows encouraging signs, but literacy still needs stronger gains. Education is the great equalizer, the foundation students carry into college, into the trades, into every future they choose. That foundation has to be solid in every subject, not just some. We are not finished. Detroit’s children deserve nothing less, and we will not rest until they get it,” said Board President LaTrice McClendon.