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Southfield's Good Education News
The Detroit News, September 23, 2002
For more articles on disabilities and special ed visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
The performance of Southfield's public schools, which had
become a political issue in the Oakland County community in
recent years, is starting to improve. That is encouraging news
for everyone concerned with minority pupils' academic
achievement.
The latest summary of state assessment test scores indicates
that African-American students in Southfield are doing
substantially better than in other Michigan districts. The
pass rate is 56 percent, which is 60 percent higher than the
state average for black students. It is also just 8 percent
behind the overall pass rate for white students, a significant
narrowing of the racial gap.
During the 1980s, Southfield schools were ranked among the
best in the state. But as the district changed during the next
decade from predominantly white to black, the test scores
dropped.
The schools came under fire from former Mayor Donald Fracassi,
who said their performance, if not reversed, could lead to the
deterioration of the community. School officials claimed,
however, that the lower scores were a function of the large
number of students who had moved into the city from Detroit
and received poor fundamental instruction in the lower grades.
The latest figures indicate they may have been right. Most of
the students now being tested have been enrolled in Southfield
since kindergarten, and the scores reflect a better grounding
in the essential reading and math concepts.
The Southfield schools also draw from a higher economic
profile than other predominantly black districts in Metro
Detroit. Many of the students who attend Southfield schools
also are there because their parents deliberately chose to
leave Detroit and find a more promising district.
"It (the passing rate) has to do with economics, not race,"
says school board Treasurer Deborah Wardell.
That would seem to be true.
Southfield's experience shows that a combination of strong
academics, involved parents and improved economic conditions
can erase the test performance gap.
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