Contents of this issue:
Metro Detroit charter school growing, moving
District, federal college enrollment stats differ
DPS students leave rather than relocate
Michigan science scores on NAEP above national average
Brighton teachers pay more for expensive MESSA
METRO DETROIT CHARTER SCHOOL GROWING, MOVING
MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. — Great Oaks Academy has to find a new
home in anticipation of doubling its enrollment, according to The
Macomb Daily.
The public charter school, with 300 students in kindergarten
through sixth grade, expects to add another 300 students and
expand to eighth grade by 2008, The Daily reported. The school
purchased the former St. Mark's Catholic School in Warren and
will open there in the fall. Great Oaks is chartered by Bay Mills
Community College and run by National Heritage Academies of Grand
Rapids.
The school has been occupying the former St. Vincent Ferrer
school in Madison Heights for two years, according to The Daily.
The move to a bigger facility will allow the public school to
offer special education services, separate art and music rooms, a
larger library and a gym, The Daily reported.
About 35 percent of the students live in Madison Heights,
according to The Daily, while others live as many as 40 miles
away. The new location is about five miles east, in Warren, from
the previous location, and will mean a longer drive for some
families.
"Sometimes we have to sacrifice some things to get a better
education," Harrison Township resident Lisa Ip, whose son Victor
attends the school, told The Daily.
SOURCE:
The Macomb Daily, "Charter school to move from Madison Heights to
Warren," May 18, 2006
https://www.macombdaily.com/stories/051806/loc_greatoaks001.shtml
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "State charter schools see enrollment
increases," March 7, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7621
Michigan Education Digest, "MEA loses lawsuit against public
schools," March 7, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7620
DISTRICT, FEDERAL COLLEGE ENROLLMENT STATS DIFFER
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The number of graduating seniors who go on to
college may be much lower than the number high schools claim,
according to the Kalamazoo Gazette.
The Gazette cites the National Center for Education Statistics,
which reports that about two-thirds of high school graduates
enroll in college, while many high schools boast that 80 percent
or more of their graduates seek post-secondary degrees.
High schools in Kalamazoo, Comstock, Portage and Paw Paw, for
example, say 80 to 90 percent of the class of 2006 plan on
attending college, according to the Gazette. The difference can
be caused by several things, including financial difficulties or
other life changes, students saying they plan to enroll in
community college who do not, and others who are accepted at
four-year schools but do not go, the Gazette reported.
Tim Bartik, president of the Kalamazoo board of education and an
economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research,
said the differences between the NCES numbers and the schools'
figures is cause for concern.
"We're doing a lot to hold schools accountable to (Michigan
Educational Assessment Program) results, but this is even more
directly related to outcomes than the MEAP," Bartik told the
Gazette.
Bartik added that vocational-education programs are required by
law to follow up on graduates a year after graduation.
"If voc-tech can figure out a way to do it, you would think other
people could," he told the Gazette.
SOURCE:
Kalamazoo Gazette, "College-bound student numbers often inflated
by school surveys," May 21, 2006
https://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-17/114820680886060.xml?kzgazette?NEKP&coll=7
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Parent Trap,"
July 1, 2005
https://www.mackinac.org/7153
Michigan Education Report, "K-Promise: A whole new environment
for Kalamazoo," March 7, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7624
DPS STUDENTS LEAVE RATHER THAN RELOCATE
DETROIT — When Detroit Public Schools closed 29 schools last
year, about 1,500 students left the district, rather than accept
being assigned to a different building, according to The Detroit
News.
Overall, 11,600 students left DPS between the fall of 2004 and
the fall of 2005, The News reported. The district plans to close
another seven schools this fall.
Almost half the students from Yost Academy, one of the schools
DPS closed last year, left the district, according to The News.
Yost was 40 years old and students there met federal testing
standards, The News reported.
"I'm glad I made the move," parent Delores Thomas, whose daughter
now attends a charter school in Southfield, told The News. "Detroit has done its job in the past, but there's no stability."
SOURCE:
The Detroit News, "Closures drive away 1,500 pupils,"
May 26, 2006
https://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060526/SCHOOLS/605260358
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Detroit Public Schools enrollment
drops again," Nov. 29, 2005
https://www.educationreport.org/7448
Michigan Education Digest, "Independent school growing in Metro
Detroit," April 4, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7661
MICHIGAN SCIENCE SCORES ON NAEP ABOVE NATIONAL AVERAGE
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan's fourth and eighth graders scored
better than the national averages of their counterparts across
the country on the science portion of the 2005 National
Assessment of Educational Progress, according to Booth
Newspapers.
On a scale of zero to 300, Michigan fourth graders averaged 152,
compared to the national average of 149. Michigan eighth graders
scored 155, also above the national average of 147, Booth
reported. According to the National Center for Education
Statistics, about 32 percent of fourth graders and 35 percent of
eighth graders were "proficient" on the 2005 science test.
Nationwide, high school seniors scored about the same in 2005 as
they did in 2000, but 12th graders also were the only group to
see a drop in scores over a 10-year time frame, according to
Booth.
"It's perplexing," Darvin Winick, chairman of the National
Assessment Governing Board, told the Associated Press. "Almost
everybody is on the high school reform bandwagon now, and all
this report should do is fuel that fire a little more."
SOURCES:
Booth Newspapers, "Michigan science scores compare favorably with
national average," May 24, 2006
https://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-34/1148499564182370.xml& storylist=newsmichigan
National Center for Education Statistics, "State Profiles," 2005
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/profile.asp
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Report, "Report: Michigan schools above
average in test scores, below in teacher quality," Feb. 15, 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4078
Michigan Education Digest, "Michigan students average; black
students lagging," Oct. 25, 2005
https://www.educationreport.org/7391
BRIGHTON TEACHERS PAY MORE FOR HIGH-COST MESSA
BRIGHTON, Mich. — Brighton teachers will pay higher deductibles
to purchase a more expensive health insurance option offered
through the Michigan Education Special Services Association,
according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.
The teachers will pay $520 retroactively for this school year,
and $620 next year, the Press & Argus reported. That cost will
increase to $720 in the third year, but teachers who opt for a
less costly MESSA plan will only pay $360. MESSA is a third-party
administrator associated with the Michigan Education Association.
The district predicts it will save about $580,000 by teachers
opting for the less expensive insurance. That money will be given
back to teachers through a 2.25 percent raise each of the three
contract years, the Press & Argus reported.
"From the field of possibilities that could have been done, this
was the most doable compromise we could have," interim
Superintendent John Hansen told the newspaper.
The agreement also would prevent the school district from taking
disciplinary action against teachers who participated in what
officials believe was an intentional sick-out May 5 that forced
two schools to close, according to the Press & Argus.
"There are pills to swallow on both sides," Barry Goode,
president of the Brighton Education Association, told the Press &
Argus. "The perfect deal for either side doesn't exist because
their interests aren't the same."
SOURCE:
Livingston Daily Press & Argus, "No savings with new contract,"
May 26, 2006
https://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006605260318
FURTHER READING:
Michigan Education Digest, "Brighton 'sick-out' draws parent
response," May 16, 2006
https://www.educationreport.org/7704
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "MESSA Reference Page,"
March 10, 2006
https://www.mackinac.org/7643
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org),
a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of nearly 150,000 published by the Mackinac
Center for Public Policy (
https://www.mackinac.org),
a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.
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