LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The state of Michigan had the lowest number of students held back a grade – or retained – in 2024-25 since at least 2008, which is as far back as online records go for the Michigan Department of Education.

The state had 34,717 students held back in 2024-25, a drop of 10% from the previous year, according to a recent report from the state of Michigan. Statewide, 2.5% of students were retained a grade this year. By comparison the state had 60,495 students retained in 2008-09, that’s the high mark over the past 16 years.

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The local school districts are holding back fewer students at a time public education is under a microscope for sub par national test results. U.S. News & World Report had Michigan ranked 36th nationally in pre-K-12 education in 2023.

Michigan has a 2016 law that could have made a student repeat third grade if the student was more than one grade level behind. But the law had many exemptions. For example, Detroit’s public schools said it used those exemptions and didn’t hold any students back due to the law in 2020-21. Any student retained that year was by the district’s decision. In March 2023, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a law that repealed that section of the law that mandated retention.