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 Nearly
900 Michigan Schools Don't Meet Progress Goals
by Alexandra R. Moses, Detroit News, January 31, 2004
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Nearly 900
Michigan schools didn’t meet progress requirements and 112 must
begin planning for a restructuring under a tough federal law
mandating that schools improve standardized test scores.
Under the state’s accreditation system, nine schools were
unaccredited -- the equivalent of failing -- in first-ever
school report cards made public Friday. Of the schools that got
grades, most received Bs and Cs.
The yearly progress data is based on the Michigan Educational
Assessment Program test, and the school report cards are based
on the MEAP and other factors, such as family involvement,
curriculum, student attendance and special programs. If schools
don’t meet yearly progress goals, their grades go down.
Of the 896 schools failing to meet progress goals, 112 haven’t
made improvements for five years, 108 for four years, 143 for
three years and 48 for two years.
MEAP scores are broken into four categories and students are
proficient if they score in the top two.
The progress measure is part of requirements under the federal
No Child Left Behind act, which aims to ensure 100 percent of
students can read and do math at grade level by 2014.
“No Child Left Behind is a moral imperative. Raise your hand if
you think your child or any other child should be left behind.
The answer is „no,”’ said Tom Watkins, state superintendent of
public instruction.
The state has pledged to help schools improve their test scores
and promised to tweak the system as it looks to the next report
card.
The report cards are part of the state’s accreditation system
and two-thirds are based on the MEAP. On the report card, 259
schools received an „A’, 976 got a „B’, 991 got a C and 94 got a
„D’. A number of schools -- 1,143 -- didn’t receive a grade,
because they are too small or too new and didn’t have the
statistical information needed to calculate a grade.
The MEAP data is from tests taken by elementary, middle and high
school students in 2003.
Schools that don’t show progress face penalties, ranging from
allowing students to transfer if the school hasn’t met the goals
for two years to planning for a restructuring if it has failed
to meet them for five years.
Schools can miss the progress targets in several ways. The main
one is if not enough students show proficiency on the math or
reading tests. But schools also have to make sure 95 percent of
students take the test, and 268 schools didn’t make the targets
because not enough students took the test. Four didn’t because
they didn’t have an 85 percent attendance rate and 19 didn’t
have an 80 percent graduation rate.
High-performing schools also can get penalized on report cards
if they don’t improve from year to year, or if their scores
actually fall, even if they’re above the target. Green
Elementary School in Oakland County’s West Bloomfield Township
got a „B’ instead of an „A’ because its MEAP scores -- though
high -- have gone down over the last five years, from 89.6
percent proficient in math in 1998 to 79.8 percent in 2003.
About school report cards
Details about the makeup of report cards for schools under the
state's Education Yes school accreditation plan:
-- Michigan Educational Assessment Program test: 67 percent of
grade. Among the factors it considers is whether student
achievement is going up or down.
-- School Performance: 33 percent of the grade. It considers
factors including family involvement, school curriculum, student
attendance, professional development for teachers and other
things such as whether a school has arts education and
humanities courses.
-- If the school makes adequate yearly progress on the MEAP, as
required under the federal No Child Left Behind act, the grade
may go up; if it doesn't, the grade may go down.
Source: Michigan Department of Education
Details on adequate yearly progress
Adequate yearly progress measures whether schools have improved
their Michigan Educational Assessment Program test scores from
year to year. The goal is that schools do better each year,
until 100 percent of students are proficient on the test. That
goal is to be reached, under the federal No Child Left Behind
act, in the 2013-14 school year. Progress is measured by math
and reading scores. Schools also have to show that students in
certain demographic groups, which include racial groups and
special education students, are making progress.
If schools don't meet the requirements, they face sanctions that
increase each year they are on the list. The sanctions include:
Schools not making AYP for two years in a row:
-- Identified for school improvement and must notify parents of
their status;
-- Must offer to allow students to transfer to a school within
the district that makes AYP;
-- District must pay for transportation of transferring students
using some of its Title I money;
-- Will receive technical assistance to improve performance;
-- Must implement a two-year school improvement plan.
Schools not making AYP for three years in a row:
-- Must offer supplemental services, such as tutoring, to
low-achieving students.
Schools not making AYP for four years in a row:
-- Identified for corrective action and must follow one of the
options as selected by the school district: replace staff who
are relevant to failure to make AYP; implement a new curriculum
and provide professional development; decrease management
authority; appoint outside expert to advise on school
improvement plan; extend school year or school day; or
restructure internal organization of school.
Schools not making AYP for five years in a row:
-- Identified for restructuring and must begin planning for it.
Schools not making AYP for six years in a row:
-- Must implement restructuring and follow one of these options
as selected by the school district: Reopen as charter school;
replace all or most of relevant school staff; contract with
outside entity to operate school; undergo a state takeover; or
undertake any other major restructuring of school's governance
that makes fundamental reform.
Sources: Michigan School Public Relations Association and the
Michigan Department of Education.
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