Majority of Wyandotte Schools Meet Federal Education Requirements

All Wyandotte public schools with the exception of two special education center-based buildings met the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to statistics released Thursday morning by the Michigan Department of Education.

and were the only schools in the district that did not meet their adequate yearly progress goals.

The other special education center, , along with the district's six general education schools, did meet their goals.

Schools are judged on how well students perform on the Michigan Educational Achievement Program test and the Michigan Merit Exam.

The Wyandotte schools that met their goals did so across the board, which is when achieved overall adequate yearly progress, but not in reading specifically.

The scores that came out Thursday are based on tests students took in October. School officials knew the test results before they were publicly released and have been planning for months on ways to improve, Wyandotte school superintendent Carla Harting said.

To help with that, school officials recently created a new position and hired

"Even with making adequate yearly progress, we are still concerned about our test scores," Harting said. "The administrative team met this week to begin discussing plans for the upcoming school year. Our priority this year is improving student achievement. We have been reviewing ways to accomplish this. With the addition of our instruction and assessment coordinator, we plan to review all current data to see where gaps in learning occur and address those areas."

Harting said she's also been in contact with state officials for clarification on how special education centers are graded. Last year, Harting said, they were not charged with meeting adequate yearly progress goals, while this year they were.

Statewide, Michigan schools saw a hodgepodge of scores. The number of individual schools meeting the standards rose from 79 percent to 82 percent. However, the number of overall districts meeting the goals increased to 262 from only 37 last year.

The increase of schools not making their goals is due in part to the now used on the MEAP and MME tests. In addition, the state now factors graduation rates for all students into the calculations and also now includes the achievement of certain student populations who previously may have not been counted.

In the past, districts only needed to meet targets at one of three levels–elementary, middle and high school. Now, they are required to meet them in all three to be earn adequate yearly progress status.

Jan Ellis, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Education, said this year's designations put a focus on the achievement gaps between students and really tries to highlight the need for all students to achieve success.

"The goal is to have all students proficient, not just some," she said in a written statement, adding that in the past there was the ability to mask poor student performance because the focus was on those students who were doing really well.

In addition to the federal guidelines, schools also are graded through a state accreditation system known as Education Yes! Those grades are derived largely on student test scores.

Wyandotte's scores dipped this year. All four elementary schools, the middle school and received a "C." The special education centers are not graded.

Harting said the drop in grades was anticipated.

"If you look throughout the state, because of the new cut scores, I think you'll see that in many districts," she said. "That’s what we’ve been working on all year and are putting into place for next year."

The way Michigan schools are graded also is set to change next year.

Because of the No Child Left Behind , state schools will no longer be measured on adequate yearly progress goals. Starting in the 2012-13 school year, school districts will receive accountability scorecards that use five different colors to recognize varying levels of achievement and accountability for each school and district.

New school designations

While adequate yearly progress goals were designed to measure student achievement as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the waiver, received last month, frees Michigan from following some of the act's rules.

As a result of the waiver, the Michigan Department of Education has identified three new school designations: reward schools, priority schools and focus schools. Not every school fits into one of these categories, but State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said they're important to have.

“We are committed to closing the achievement gaps in all of our schools for all of our students,” Flanagan said in a written statement. “With this measure of transparency, schools will be identified and held accountable for the achievement of all of their students.”

Reward Schools: The top five percent of all Michigan schools in the annual top-to-bottom ranking and the top five percent making the greatest academic progress over the past four years. None are in Wyandotte.

Priority Schools: Previously called persistently lowest achieving schools, these are now identified as those in the bottom five percent of the annual top-to-bottom ranking and any high school with a graduation rate of less than 60 percent for three consecutive years. There were 146 priority schools identified this year. These schools will be required to come up with a plan to improve. Wyandotte's Madison School is on the list.

Focus Schools: The 10 percent of schools with the widest achievement gaps, meaning the academic disparity between the top 30 percent of students and the bottom 30 percent. That list includes 358 schools, many of which in the past would be considered high achieving. The schools are now charged with bridging the gap. None are in Wyandotte.