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MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST
August 10, 2004

Contents of this issue:

  • Legislature approves Detroit ballot for governance of schools

  • Home schooling on the increase in the United States

  • Commentary: Charters bring relief to crowded Florida schools

  • More Michigan schools make "adequate progress"; nearly 400 still failing

  • State fixes delays, publishes school report cards

  • SAT classes popular for new version of test

LEGISLATURE APPROVES DETROIT BALLOT FOR GOVERNANCE OF SCHOOLS
LANSING, Mich. — The state Legislature last week approved changes to a ballot measure that will allow Detroit residents to choose the type of governance and power that city and state leaders will assert over the Detroit school district.

A 1999 state law gave control of the Detroit district to the mayor, but required that Detroit voters be given the option to revert to a traditional board in five years' time. The new legislation, however, provides voters with two choices on November's ballot: to revert to a traditional board, or to approve a system that gives Detroit's mayor a continuing role, including the authority to hire the district's chief executive.

After the new legislation was announced, two local coalitions announced plans to fight the added option. Keep the Vote/No Takeover Coalition and By Any Means Necessary say the Lansing decision to place two options on the ballot will confuse voters and is an attempt to keep Detroiters from controlling their local school board. Protesters in support of these groups gathered in downtown Detroit last Friday. "Instead of allowing the citizens to vote as was promised, they've come up with this," said George Washington, an attorney representing the groups.

SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Detroiters get option on control of schools," Aug. 6, 2004
http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0408/08/d01-234413.htm

Detroit Free Press, "Activists fight school vote," Aug. 7, 2004
http://www.freep.com/news/education/dps7_20040807.htm

Detroit News, "Opponents of Detroit schools proposal ask court to keep it off ballot," Aug. 7, 2004
http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0408/08/schools-235086.htm

Michigan Education Report, "Compromise Gives Archer Control of Detroit Schools," Spring 1999
http://www.mackinac.org/1678

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Detroit's Reform School Board Would Be Wise to Privatize," June 1999
http://www.mackinac.org/1843

HOME SCHOOLING INCREASES IN UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Figures released last week by the National Center for Education Statistics show that nearly 1.1 million children in the United States are homeschooled, up 29 percent from 1999.

When the NCES survey asked parents who homeschool why they do so, 31 percent said they were concerned with the environment of public schools; 30 percent cited the ability to teach religious or moral lessons; and 16 percent cited dissatisfaction with academics at public schools.

The National Center for Home Education, a homeschool advocacy group, said that the number of homeschooled children is actually 2 million, but that the NCES data correctly shows the growth of the homeschooling option. "Home schooling is just getting started," said Ian Slatter, spokesman for the homeschool group. "We're getting that mainstream recognition and challenging the way education has been done."

SOURCES:
Associated Press, "Home Schooling Is on the Rise," Aug. 3, 2004
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040803/ap_on_re_us/home_schooling

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Home Schoolers Make Case for School Choice," May 2002
http://www.mackinac.org/4364

Michigan Education Report, "Home schooling works, study finds," Aug. 15, 1999
http://www.educationreport.org/2212

COMMENTARY: CHARTERS BRING RELIEF TO CROWDED FLORIDA SCHOOLS
VERA BEACH, Fla. — A commentary published last week in the Vera Beach Press-Journal reports that Florida schools are less crowded than ever due to an increase in the number of charter schools in that state — one of several positive impacts that charter schools have had in Florida in recent years, according to the author.

Jay P. Greene, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said that during the late 1990s, public schools in the state served an average of 735 students per building, up from 712 per school earlier in the decade. But since 1998, noted Greene, "The average number of students per school in Florida has actually been declining, reaching 685 students per school last year."

Much of the easing of crowded schools coincided with the introduction of new charter schools in the state.

Charters, with construction funded in part by previously untapped sponsors, including community foundations and corporations, "have drawn students away from crowded traditional public schools, easing those crowded conditions," Greene observed.

Charter schools stay small because it is an attractive feature for parents. "Traditional public schools face less pressure to reduce their size because students are assigned to those crowded, large institutions by the county school district, whether attending families like it or not," wrote Greene.

SOURCES:
Vera Beach Press-Journal, "Charters ease Florida public-school crowding," Aug. 6, 2004
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/pj_edt_columnists/article/ 0,1651,TCP_1127_3089459,00.html

Viewpoint on Public Issues, "Class Size Reduction Is Expensive,"
October 1998
http://www.mackinac.org/1282

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "When Will Conventional Public Schools Be As Accountable as Charters?" July 2004
http://www.mackinac.org/6684

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Time to Stop Beating Up on Charter Schools," November 2002
http://www.mackinac.org/4864

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Impact of Limited School Choice on Public School Districts," July 2000
http://www.mackinac.org/2962

MORE MICHIGAN SCHOOLS MAKE "ADEQUATE PROGRESS"; NEARLY 400 STILL FAILING
LANSING, Mich. — Report cards issued last week by the Michigan Department of Education showed that although 100 fewer elementary and middle schools qualified as "failing" by state standards, nearly 400 schools still did not make the grade. Many of these schools will face severe sanctions if they continue to fail for a prolonged period.

Of the schools classified as failing, 101 have been on the list for five years, which is the longest time a school can remain on the list before facing major sanctions, such as restructuring of administration and staff. According to state officials, nearly 40 of these schools received a reprieve that will hold off sanctions for a year, during which they must improve.

According to the No Child Left Behind Act, schools that fail for five years in a row to make "adequate yearly progress," a federal baseline standard for improvement, must face major sanctions. "Next year we've got a huge challenge," said Jeremy Hughes, deputy state superintendent. "The bar is going up."

SOURCES:
Detroit News, "More Michigan schools meet No Child rules," Aug. 6, 2004
http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0408/08/a01-234631.htm

Detroit News, "39 schools avert major overhaul," Aug. 5, 2004
http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0408/05/b01-233336.htm

Michigan Education Report, "No Child Left Behind law demands 'adequate yearly progress' and offers school choice options for parents," Fall 2002
http://www.educationreport.org/4846

Michigan Education Report, "President signs 'No Child Left Behind Act,'" Winter 2002
http://www.educationreport.org/4082

STATE ISSUES SCHOOL REPORT CARDS, FIXES DELAYS
LANSING, Mich. — State officials report that they issued state report cards for elementary and middle schools on time and with fewer glitches than last year, when the grades were delayed by months.

Last year, hundreds of schools received grades that were late or incorrect, standardized tests went missing and some failed to receive grades at all. Over 2,000 schools appealed their grades.

Ed Roeber, the state's assessment coordinator who oversaw this year's overhaul of the program, said that a number of changes were made. Those changes ranged from changing the company that reports test scores to altering the grading measure to reduce grade penalties on previously high-performing schools. But even high-performing schools will still have to show some improvement, says Roeber. "If a high-performing school is starting to fall apart, we shouldn't cover it up," he said.

Some administrators expressed frustration with the disruption caused in their schools by the report cards, which are required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Pete McFarlane, superintendent of Portage schools, said, "Do I think it's at a place where it's transparent and not getting in the way of our regular work? No. But nobody likes bureaucracy when it's over their head."

SOURCES:
Kalamazoo Gazette, "State works bugs out of report-card system," Aug. 5, 2004
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-10/ 1091721055292390.xml

Michigan Education Report, "State superintendent launches plan to grade schools," Winter 2002
http://www.educationreport.org/4083

Michigan Education Report, "State Board of Education adopts school grading plan," Spring 2002
http://www.educationreport.org/4270

SAT CLASSES POPULAR FOR NEW VERSION OF TEST
DETROIT, Mich. — A new version of the popular SAT test has high school students scrambling for test preparation courses that they hope will improve their chances of securing college admission.

The new test, which debuts next spring, will include a persuasive essay and will no longer contain a section that required students to understand complex analogies. Scoring will be altered, with a top score increasing from 1,600 to 2,400, and the test will be lengthened by 45 minutes, for a total of three hours and 45 minutes.

But the College Board, which owns and oversees the test, says it will not be any more difficult than the current one, which has remained largely the same for more than a decade. "The difficulty level between the current math section and the new math section, and between the current verbal section and the new one are the same. Those sections are not getting more difficult," said Board spokeswoman Kristin Carnahan.

Test preparation courses are becoming more popular with students in Michigan, even though most students take the ACT, a competing test. The growth "is bordering on remarkable," said Jennifer Karan, director of SAT and ACT programs at New York-based Kaplan, a company that offers test preparation courses. Karan told the Detroit Free Press that Kaplan saw a 78 percent increase in the number of students taking its online SAT practice test.

SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "New SAT sets off a flurry of classes," Aug. 9 ,2004
http://www.freep.com/news/education/sat9_20040809.htm

Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "POLICY BRIEF: Which Educational Achievement Test is Best for Michigan?" May 2002
http://www.mackinac.org/4382

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education Report ( http://www.educationreport.org), a quarterly newspaper with a circulation of 130,000 published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org), a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.

Contact Managing Editor Neil Block at
med@educationreport.org.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to:
http://www.educationreport.org/pubs/mer/listserver.aspx.
Related Topics: Education
Michigan Education Daily
Thu., July 29, 2010
"Henry Ford High School students must choose to attend the Academy for Green and Renewable Energy or the Academy of Business Technology when returning to school this fall, while all incoming freshmen will attend the 9th Grade Leadership Academy." >>
Wed., July 28, 2010
"Michigan failed to make the cut in the second round of competition for federal "Race to the Top" education reform dollars, despite increased support from its largest teachers union." >>
Tue., July 27, 2010
"Lake Superior State University will open a satellite campus this fall on the site of a public school academy that it charters in Dearborn." >>
Mon., July 26, 2010
"Eighty-two percent of those surveyed in a recent poll gave a negative rating to the quality of education in Detroit Public Schools, while 54 percent said they would favor having the mayor be accountable for the school system, and 28 percent said they would oppose mayoral oversight." >>
Sun., July 25, 2010
"Students who want to enroll at Jackson Community College this fall must be able to read and write at least at the seventh-grade level." >>
Sat., July 24, 2010
"A state senator has introduced legislation to require public school districts to offer instruction at least 200 days per year." >>
Fri., July 23, 2010
"High school student scores improved slightly on the Michigan Merit Examination in 2010, though only half the test-takers achieved "proficient" scores in math and 65 percent in reading." >>
User Comments
johnstfu
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Aarowman
Public servants like Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Judges, Secretaries of Various Departments and the like should be first to be compensated for performance.
The idea that the playing field for students is level everywhere is as Quixotic as thinking all politicians are honest and competent.
There are neighborhoods where only Portugese or gang sign language is spoken, where the parents both work two jobs to pay rent, where getting to school and back is more dangerous than Iraq and Afghanastan.
This Secretary of Education has to remove the silver spoon, roll up his sleeves and take his superior intellect attitude into the trenches and show the poor slobs that are taking their teachers jobs for granted how he would do it. Just because his mommy used to help out in Chicago doesn't give him the Congression Medal of Honor. Actually he's a stuffed shirt pretending to know it all.
How much do you want to bet that he wouldn't attempt entering these neighborhoods let alone these schools without security. >>
verdemont resident
This article is tucked away yet is profoundly correct. Parents are pseudo parenting little objects of consumption. Teens, professionals, working moms like the "idea" of a child but are not in for the long haul and everyone loses.

Schools are enabling parents to do precious little. The time parents spend with their children is the only thing that matters. Bussing needs to be cut, school breakfast, lunch, and afterschool care needs to be stopped. Parents will grow that bond by sacrificing the nails, hair, parties, drugs, quads, vacations, etc. and making a lunch for their child and arrangements to be home when the child is out of school. No one is that poor that they can't provide a boloney sandwich, a baggie of pretzels, an apple, 50 cents for a milk, and two cookies each day.

Please respond!

>>
JackI
Is it true that young ones today are losing interest on these subjects? Obviously, the White House is promoting programs that will help students on coping up with math and science subjects. But, The federal government thinks that the quality of math and science education can repair credit with the scientific community and improve US education with a few <a rev="vote for" title="U.S. Government Spends $250 Million on Science and Math" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/Payday-Loans/ ">payday loans</a> of sorts. In reality, it will take far longer to accomplish than they might think – US educators can't even get students to accept that "irregardless" isn't a word, and the difference between their, they're, and there – our students can't even learn their own language! It's a noble aim, to be sure, but throwing money at it may not work in the long run. >>
beggarsall
I am a teacher in the same county who is presently trying to quit the union. Like Caldwell, I strongly disagree with the MEA.

This article was timely.

Rob Olson
Pittsford Area Schools

>>
rickolson
I agree this is a change worth making. I describe some of the uneven effects of the idea on my blog at http://rickolson.blogspot.com/2009/08/statewide-health-insurance-plan-for.html which you may also wish to read.

The devil will be in the details, so this is one we will need to monitor closely.

Rick Olson from Saline, former school Business Manager >>
MichelleO

Nowadays, saving money is very crucial and properly investing the money can keep you and your family away from the effect of the financial crisis. The sad news is that a lot of the options for short term funding have been drying up. Short term funding is a necessary thing to have around, and going through traditional channels such as banks isn't an option for a lot of people anymore – basically it's only open to Ken Lewis. Installment loans are an option, but some people, including senior citizens, have been thinking about raiding their retirement fund. Getting into your pension retirement plan or 401(k) funds is the last thing you want to do if you don't qualify for any withdrawals yet. The penalties are substantial, and you'll end up needing installments loans to pay them if you use retirement funds for <a rev="vote for" title="Installment Loans Reliable Option As 401(k)s are Dwindling" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/05/17/installment-loans-reliable-option-401ks-dwindling/">short term funding</a>.


>>
QUEEN_BEE_09
I AGREE >>
colonelb
Godfrey-Lee on the west side of the state has been running all-day, every-day kindergarten for several years. >>
BenjaminY
We have a problem in Detroit Public School, their system had cash flow problem for years now. And honestly it getting worst in terms in progression with more children leaving to charter their schools almost every year. The state decided to give the Detroit school districts cash advance of $70 million so they would meet the schools expenses, as well as payment for teachers. Robert Bobb, the newly appointed emergency financial manager, requested the funds early in order for him to get the house in order before he had to start panicking. President Obama has been giving out large sums of money for troubled school districts, perhaps that’s where a generous portion of the aid came from. Getting Detroit Public Schools in working order is a worthy cause.

LINK TO READ FOR MORE INFO:
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/10/state-advance-detroit-public-schools-70m/


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