GREENVILLE, Ala. — Toward the end of a math lesson on a sunny Friday in October, fourth-grade teacher D’Atra Howard and math instructional coach LaVeda Gray ducked out of the classroom to huddle.

Michigan reflected a nationwide trend when it saw student test scores decline for fourth- and eighth-graders in reading and for eighth-graders in math between 2022 and 2024, according to national test ...