Contents of this issue:
Students pilot computerized MEAP testing
Districts receive grants to research school health centers
Flint district resorts to mall sweeps for truants
EDITORIAL: Superintendent issue highlights school funding
Ionia High School installs "objective" video surveillance system
STUDENTS PILOT COMPUTERIZED MEAP TESTING
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — Some 2,000 sixth-graders throughout Michigan
will be piloting a new program to take selected MEAP tests on
individual laptop computers to determine the efficiency of computer-administrated testing, according to the Soo Evening News.
These 2,000 students will take the language arts and social studies
tests via computer in October when the MEAP is administered statewide.
Currently, paper tests from every student in the state must be sent to
a central agency that calculates and compiles each student's scores, a
process that takes 6-7 weeks. The computerized system "is about the
efficiency," said Michelle Ryban, an administrator at the Eastern Upper
Peninsula ISD. "The cost-savings will be phenomenal," Ryban added.
Funding for the computers was provided by state and federal grants to
the ISD; districts in the Eastern Upper Peninsula system have received
2,600 laptop computers. Ryban told the Evening News she believes
computer exposure has helped students become more engaged in their
schooling, and hopes to expand computer use for all ages. "Our ISD has
done a fabulous job exposing students from kindergarten on up," she
said.
SOURCES:
Soo Evening News, "EUP students to test 'efficient' MEAP system,"
June 2, 2005
http://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2005/06/01/news/news422.txt
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "How Does the MEAP Measure Up?"
December 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3919
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "POLICY BRIEF: Which Educational
Achievement Test Is Best for Michigan?" May 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4382
Michigan Education Report, "Markets, not MEAP, best way to measure
school quality," Spring 2000
https://www.mackinac.org/2872
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Giving Laptops to Sixth Graders
Won't Improve Their Education," July 2003
https://www.mackinac.org/5572
DISTRICTS RECEIVE GRANTS TO RESEARCH SCHOOL HEALTH CENTERS
JACKSON, Mich. — The state of Michigan announced last week it would
provide 23 school districts with planning grants to assess the
necessity and feasibility of school-based mental and physical health
centers, reported The Jackson Citizen-Patriot.
Of the 23 districts given planning grants, 12 will be selected for the
development of health centers, paid for by a $10.5 million state
program to support the initiative. Jackson Public Schools and Albion
Public Schools both received about $60,000 grants for fact-finding,
according to The Citizen-Patriot. "We feel confident we certainly have
the need," said JPS Service Learning Coordinator Becky Mehall. "We're
going to be getting as much information as we can. We want to put
together the best plan possible."
The centers would be targeted at students who have little or no health
insurance coverage; some centers that currently exist provide dental
and medical assistance. "Because we have a captive audience in our
schools whose health needs aren't getting met, we can help them," JPS
Health Education Coordinator Linda Meeder told the Citizen-Patriot.
JPS recently opened a health center at its Northeast Elementary School.
The state's grant announcement last week also included a $175,000
supplement to that program.
SOURCES:
The Jackson Citizen-Patriot, "Schools plan for health centers,"
June 2, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-13/111772654687770.xml
Michigan Education Report, "Parents, not schools, must ultimately
be responsible for children," Winter 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3224
FLINT DISTRICT RESORTS TO MALL SWEEPS FOR TRUANTS
FLINT, Mich. — The fight against truancy has reached a new level in the
Flint School District, as evidenced by a sweep at local Flint malls
late last month that netted 14 truant students.
The Flint Township and Burton police, along with district
representatives, searched out truants at the Courtland Center and
Genesee Valley Malls on May 26. Four of the students were Flint
students and the others were from other districts, according to The
Flint Journal.
The sweeps parallel an initiative by Genesee County Prosecutor David
Leyton to prosecute parents of chronically absent students. Leyton told
The Journal he would be bringing a case against one mother whose
children have missed over 30 days at Flint's Washington Elementary this
school year. But he also plans to address cases throughout the county.
"This is a countywide problem. We're going to attack it in a countywide
fashion," Leyton said.
Though the district has not studied specific data on the efficacy of
its sweeps for truant students, anecdotal evidence may show that the
program is working, said acting Director of Pupil Personnel Services
Larry Watkins. "We have individual cases where we've seen the
attendance improve," Watkins told The Journal. "We do know parents do
not like having a police officer and school official show up on their
porch and knock on their door because their child is not attending
school."
SOURCE:
The Flint Journal, "Schools shop area malls for truants," June 5, 2005
https://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-29/1117974036284210.xml
EDITORIAL: SUPERINTENDENT ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS SCHOOL FUNDING
PONTIAC, Mich. — An editorial published yesterday in The Oakland Press
stated that Michigan's new state superintendent of public instruction
reportedly supports revisions in the state's education funding system
that would require on-going annual expenditure increases for education.
The fact that the state superintendent is elected by a government body
is an anomaly in Michigan, said The Press, as most state posts are
appointed positions as outlined in the 1963 state constitution. "Even
then, apparently, educators expected and got special consideration,"
said The Press, which expressed opposition to recently-introduced
legislation that would mandate "an annual increase that would match the
rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is less."
Because citizens have no fixed guarantee of future income, said The
Press, "neither local education nor any other government function can
have a fixed claim on the public's assets," especially considering
that, "School spending mainly affects employee pay and benefits, not
what goes on in the classroom."
SOURCES:
The Oakland Press, "State schools shouldn't count on annual increase in
funds," June 6, 2005
https://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/060605/opi_20050606002.shtml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "School Funding: Lack of Money or
Lack of Money Management?" August 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3683
Michigan Education Report, "Proposal A provided more money, but better
management needed," Fall 2001
https://www.educationreport.org/3908
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "School Finance Reform Lessons from
Michigan," October 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3802
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Six Habits of Fiscally
Responsible Public School Districts," December 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4891
IONIA HIGH SCHOOL INSTALLS "OBJECTIVE" VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
IONIA, Mich. — Ionia High School administrators told the Ionia
Sentinel-Standard last week that its new, multi-thousand dollar video
security system adds safety to the school's hallways and allows
administrators to objectively settle problems between students.
The system, which is valued at $30,000, was sold to the school by
Vision Technology International for $15,000. The new system greatly
improves on the school's old black-and-white cameras, according to the
Sentinel-Standard. "Things have tightened up around here," said School
Liaison Police Officer Randy Woodbury. "We now have more tools to keep
the school secure."
Administrators said the system allows them to keep an objective eye on
behavior in the hallways, helping them to resolve conflicts without
relying solely on the accounts of students who were involved. "We can
just take a look at the camera on a specific day and time, and know
exactly what happened," Woodbury said.
SOURCE:
Ionia Sentinel-Standard, "Ionia High School is looking for trouble,"
June 4, 2005
http://www.sentinel-standard.com/articles/2005/06/04/news/01news.txt
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of 130,000 published by the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy (
https://www.mackinac.org),
a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.
Font size:
