🛝 84% of Students Graduated. 73% Aren't Ready for Anything.

Welcome to Playground Post, a bi-weekly newsletter that keeps education innovators ahead of what's next.

This week's reality check: Michigan just hit a record 84% graduation rate, but only 27% of its high schoolers are college-ready. Meanwhile, a global test of AI literacy is coming in 2029 and 99.7% of U.S. districts have no guidance. And more than a third of boys gamble before 18 without ever learning the math that might protect them.

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Data Gem

Workforce Pell Grants launch July 1, 2026. Only about 4% of NC community college programs are expected to qualify. Programs must hit a 70% completion rate, 70% job placement within 180 days, and positive return on investment.

Michigan's Graduation Rate Just Hit a Record. But Students Aren't Ready

Michigan's four-year high school graduation rate reached a new high: just above 84%, up from 82.83% the year before.

Detroit Public Schools Community District hit its highest graduation rate since the state began using its current formula, topping 83%. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti noted the rate was 7.3 percentage points higher than the last pre-pandemic year. 

Lansing School District saw an even more dramatic jump: 94% graduation, up from 62.1% just four years ago.

But here's what doesn't add up.

Statewide, only about 27% of high schoolers are considered college-ready based on SAT benchmarks.

The district-level data is starker. In Detroit, 85% of students scored below benchmarks in math and 63.9% in reading and writing. In Lansing, where 94% graduated, 94.9% tested below college-readiness benchmarks in math.

So how are more students graduating while fewer are demonstrating proficiency?

Districts credit expanded career and technical education, credit recovery programs, additional counselors, and better tracking of student progress.

"We really rolled up our sleeves to make learning relevant and more meaningful for students," said Kevin Polston, superintendent of Kentwood Public Schools, where CTE programs now include a culinary arts track with a 400-student waiting list.

But the gap suggests something else: schools are getting better at graduating students without necessarily getting better at preparing them.

Venessa Keesler, president and CEO of Launch Michigan, put it plainly: "What we need to do now is increase the rigor of what that diploma means and what students are prepared to do with that diploma."

For education innovators, the data points to demand for career readiness assessment tools that measure practical skills alongside academic benchmarks, credit recovery platforms that build actual competency rather than just clearing transcript requirements. The biggest opportunity may be tools that align graduation pathways with postsecondary outcomes, so the diploma signals readiness instead of just completion.

America Is About to Be Graded on AI Literacy

In 2029, PISA will for the first time test AI literacy as a core competency alongside reading, math, and science. That's the global scoreboard countries use to compare how well they're preparing young people.

Jeff Riley, a former state commissioner of K-12 education in Massachusetts, doesn't mince words: America has no real plan to prepare students and educators with anything close to the consistency this moment requires.

How unprepared are we?

Only 40 school districts in 17 states have district-level AI guidance. 

That's approximately 0.3% of all U.S. districts. Nearly three-quarters of parents say their children's schools haven't shared any AI policies, according to the Center on Reinventing Public Education.

Students aren't waiting for guidance. Pew Research Center found that 26% of teenagers used ChatGPT for schoolwork in 2024, double the 13% in 2023. By late 2025, roughly two-thirds of teens reported using AI chatbots, with about three in ten doing so daily.

The core problem isn't innovation. It's distribution. 

Riley argues that local control, long one of America's strengths, has become a liability for AI readiness: a student's experience depends entirely on their ZIP code and whether their teachers have received training. Some will graduate fluent in the most consequential technology of their generation. Others will be left entirely on their own.

For education entrepreneurs, the 2029 PISA deadline turns an abstract need into a concrete market event. Districts need turnkey AI literacy curricula, teacher training that scales without deep technical expertise, and policy templates that give administrators a starting point. The 99.7% of districts without guidance aren't ignoring the issue. They don't know where to begin.

36% of Boys Gamble Before 18. Schools Should Teach Them the Math

Isaac Rose-Berman was a professional gambler for a time. Now in his 20s, he's a fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men, visiting high schools to teach students the math behind why betting is rigged against them.

A new report found that 36% of boys ages 11 to 17 gambled in the past year. 

Nearly a third of 11-year-olds reported gambling behavior. By age 17, nearly half had gambled.

Peer influence is powerful: 84% of boys whose friends gamble also gamble, compared to just 17% of those whose friends don't. 

About 60% of boys saw gambling ads or content in their social media feeds, and most said it just showed up rather than being sought out.

A JAMA Pediatrics survey found that roughly 8% of adolescents gamble at least weekly.

The gateway isn't casinos or sports betting apps. It's video games. Among boys who gambled, 54% exchanged real money for chance-based rewards in games, through loot boxes, skin cases, and randomized features that blur the line between playing and paying.

"Your kids are being exposed to gambling already, through advertising, through marketing, and so there's nothing new there," says Jérémie Richard, a clinical psychologist at the University of Ottawa. Abstinence may not be an option.

Here's the gap: a randomized controlled trial secondary schools found that gambling curricula boost awareness of addiction among students, but had limited success in actually preventing gambling behaviors. 

Awareness alone isn't enough.

Sarah Clark, a research scientist at the University of Michigan, says math is what separates gambling from other forms of addiction. Schools have long taught probability, but the connection to gambling stays abstract. Companies push parlays because the probability of hitting is low. If students understand the math and can critically assess marketing tactics, they become more resistant.

Rose-Berman has seen this firsthand. Nearly half the time after he presents at schools, boys share their gambling strategies, expecting validation. He has to explain why LeBron James going over his point total in eight of the last ten games won't help them place a profitable bet.

His bottom line: "If they haven't kicked you out, it means you're a sucker."

For education innovators, this is wide-open whitespace. There are virtually no standards-aligned gambling literacy products for K-12. The opportunity spans probability and risk modules for middle and high school math, youth screening tools modeled on substance abuse protocols, and parent-facing awareness platforms. New York's proposed Sports Wagering and Minors Act signals legislative momentum that could accelerate adoption.

⚡️More Quick Hits

This week in education:

• U. Michigan student accused of AI cheating sues for discrimination — Student with disabilities blocked from graduating based on unreliable AI detection; a similar Adelphi University case was decided in the student's favor after $100,000+ in legal costs

• New ADHD research finds attention is selective, not absent — Washington University study shows students with ADHD can "hyperfocus" when engaged, challenging intervention models across the $3B+ special education market serving 11% of U.S. children

• COVID relief funds are gone, but more states commit to high-impact tutoring — Despite over $120 billion in federal pandemic funds expiring, multiple states are funding tutoring with state dollars

• 85% of colleges cite restrictive policies as top barrier to international enrollment — Up from 58% in 2024, with DePaul University reporting a 62% drop in new international graduate students

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