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2 — Wednesday, July 6, 2022
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UMich study finds correlation between Flint
water crisis and poor academic performance
UMich researchers discuss findings and next steps after Flint water crisis
A recent University of Michigan
study found a correlation between
the Flint water crisis and a decrease
in academic performance for school-
age children.
In April 2014, the city of Flint
switched its drinking water supply
from Detroit’s system to the Flint
River to save money. However,
later
studies
revealed
elevated
levels of lead in the blood of the
city’s residents. The city switched
its water source to Lake Huron in
2015, but the damage had already
been done—approximately 99,000
residents had already been exposed
to lead poisoning. Former Governor
Rick Snyder and eight former state
officials faced criminal charges for
the Flint water crisis in 2021.
Samuel Owusu, a research analyst
at the Educational Policy Initiative,
said one of the defining aspects of the
study was its use of non-educational
data—data not relating to academic,
JONATHAN WANG
Daily News Contributor
RESEARCH
educator, demographic and student
information—to show the effect the
Flint water crisis had on student
performance.
“This is a novel study and uses
different types of data,” Owusu said.
“It shows the power of leveraging
administrative records, but also
records from local nonprofits and
other stakeholders to do some
fascinating educational research…
It opens the floodgates for more
research.”
Through
examining
the
educational records of Flint students,
the authors found a decrease in
math achievement for school-age
children and an increase in special
needs children over the course of the
water crisis. However, they found
little difference in the academic
performance between students living
in homes with lead pipes compared to
students living in homes with copper
pipes, suggesting that there are other
components to the trend beyond lead
contamination.
Brian
Jacob,
professor
of
economics at the School of Public
Read more at michigandaily.com
Four UMich research projects receive combined
$4.5 million from LSA research initiative
RESEARCH
Faculty research projects receive funding to pursue research on social and environmental justice
Four faculty research projects at
the University of Michigan received
a combined $4.5 million investment
from the University this month to
pursue their research on social and
environmental justice, according to
a June 21 press release. The grants
are a part of LSA’s Meet the Moment
initiative, which awards funding to
faculty whose research addresses
urgent social issues.
The
projects
fall
into
two
categories: A “Change the World”
project, which can receive up to $2
million in funding extended over a
five-year period; or a “Vital Impact”
project, which can receive up to
$250,000 extended over a two-year
period.
Anne
Thomson,
director
of
Research and
Compliance
for
LSA,
said
LSA
expects
to
fund another
round of four
projects
in
2024, though
they have not
SAMANTHA RICH
Summer News Editor
yet officially announced a call for
applications.
Thomson said the University
established this initiative as a way
to direct attention and resources to
research with the potential to bring
about concrete change.
“We
in
LSA
are
uniquely
positioned to bridge some of the
things that have been happening
in the world and what we can do to
make it a better place,” Thomson said.
“We have expert faculty, we have all
the resources, we’ve got motivated
and engaged students who are willing
to learn new things and be part of
something bigger than just their own
disciplines … These projects are about
combining all of these things together
and bringing about something that
can actually, truly make a difference.”
The Michigan Daily spoke with
members of the research team for
each of the selected proposals to
understand their projects’ goals and
the implications of their research.
Confronting the carceral state:
criminalization,
confinement
and control
Heather
Ann
Thompson,
Christian
Davenport,
Matthew
Lassiter, Kentaro Toyama, Jesse
Hoffnung-Garskof, Melissa Borja,
Ruby Tapia and William Lopez
This “Change the World” project
will examine historical trends
and present-day conditions in the
American criminal justice system,
including mass incarceration, police
violence,
wrongful
convictions,
systemic racism and immigration
detention.
Through
studying
historical archives, oral histories
and other first-hand accounts,
researchers
hope
to
increase
awareness and transparency on
contemporary issues in the U.S.
carceral system.
Policy and one of the authors of the
study, said a potential factor for the
decrease in academic performance
could be anxiety about health and
safety surrounding the crisis.
“The main implication is that
the Flint water crisis did have an
important impact on educational
outcomes on school children,” Jacobs
said. “It seems like it was due not
(entirely) to the lead contamination
itself, but due to the other social
disruption
that
resulted
from
the contamination and political
backlash and the legal and other
issues in the community.”
However, Jacobs emphasized
that it is too early to discount the
effects of lead toxicity on student
performance. He said it is important
to study the children who have been
left out of the study’s sample.
Design by Reid Graham
Design by Priya Ganji
Read more at michigandaily.com