August 19, 2005
LANSING
– The Michigan Department of Education today issued its EducationYES! Report Cards to
Michigan
elementary, middle, and high schools along with the annual report on each school’s Adequate Yearly Progress as required by the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The data released today show that while more
Michigan
schools meet the requirements of the federal law,
Michigan
’s own system of evaluating academic progress has identified more schools in need of improvement.
This mid-August release of every school level complies with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law that is aimed at giving parents important data about their schools to help them make informed decisions on their children’s education.
Changes in the state’s assessment processes approved by the State Board of Education and state Legislature allowed for the coordinated release of Report Cards at all school levels. Until now, the public reports have been staggered throughout the year due to previous restrictions in state law.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said the new data show the state’s focus on school accountability is working.
“All across
Michigan
, we see schools where concerted efforts by committed educators are making a real difference in student learning,” Flanagan said. “The data also show us where we need to step up our efforts to help students achieve their academic goals.”
According to Flanagan, the Department will use this school performance data to target its school improvement funding for this coming school year.
EducationYES! is the state accreditation system based not only upon student achievement on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) tests, but also other school performance indicators, including: curriculum, teacher quality and professional development, school facilities, and family involvement.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a state measurement of student achievement, governed and approved by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), and required by NCLB.
Schools that have not made AYP for two or more consecutive years are in various phases of federal NCLB sanctions – from allowing students to transfer to schools making AYP; providing supplemental educational services; to school restructuring.
From a statewide view, 88 percent of
Michigan
’s 3,670 public schools made AYP for the 2005 school year, as did over 95 percent of the state’s school districts.
Nearly 75 percent of the state’s schools received an A or B grade on their EducationYES! state accreditation report cards. At the same time, the number of schools listed as D-Alert increased to 126 in 2005, compared to 70 the previous year.
Michigan
school Report Cards can be accessed by logging on to the Michigan Department of Education website: www.michigan.gov/mde
“We hope parents use this information to learn more about their children’s schools,” said State Board of Education President Kathleen N. Straus. “Our goal is to encourage those schools doing well to do better, and to continue providing assistance to schools not yet meeting the standards. We want all
Michigan
schools to be excellent.”
Although more Michigan schools made AYP this past year, Flanagan explained that assuming any trend is premature considering the evolving implementation of the complex federal No Child Left Behind law.
“As we’ve said all along, this NCLB accountability system is a work in progress,” Flanagan noted. “It will be difficult to show definitive trends between the years, at least in these initial years, because the system will continue to be refined and adjusted at both the state and federal levels.”
Both the EducationYES! Report Card and the AYP reports reflect changes designed to improve the accuracy of resulting data.
The State Board of Education in February approved changes to the state Report Card to limit the degree in which schools’ self-reported data could increase their overall performance grade. The USDOE recently approved
Michigan
to use a statistically more reliable calculation of test scores called a confidence interval used by 30 other states. The USDOE also is allowing all states to count more of their alternate assessment scores for students with special needs as being proficient.
“Together, these measures now give us a more accurate picture of where Michigan stacks up in comparison to other states, while allowing us to better identify the schools in our state that need to turn around their performance,” Flanagan said.
Requirements in the federal NCLB law also will result in more changes to student assessment in
Michigan
in the year ahead.
Whereas the past MEAP system tested students in fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth grades, beginning this coming school year, federal law is requiring students in grades 3 through 8 be tested every year in at least math and English Language Arts. Fifth- and eighth-graders also will take a science assessment, and sixth-graders will take the social studies assessment.
“This year we will be testing hundreds of thousands of more children, in more grades, with entirely new tests,” Flanagan said. “And we expect that may have an impact on each school’s and each district’s AYP status.
The number of students being tested will jump from 520,000 last year to 910,000 students this October.
“Regardless of the fluctuations in the system or process, the common denominator must be that all of our students are progressing academically and receiving a quality education,” Straus said. “No matter what a school’s AYP status is, its focus must be on continued development and improvement.”
For more detail, refer to the Guide to Reading the Michigan School Report Cards 2005 Edition.
No Child Left Behind Sanction Phases:
Phase 1 – School must provide school choice and transportation.
Phase 2 – School must provide school choice, transportation, and supplemental services to students.
Phase 3 – School must provide school choice, transportation, supplemental services to students, and implement a plan of corrective action.
Phase 4 – School must provide school choice, transportation, supplemental services to students, and develop a plan to restructure itself.
Phase 5 – School must provide school choice, transportation, supplemental services to students, and implement the restructuring plan developed in the previous year.
Phase 6 – School must continue its efforts from Phase 5.
Delay Status:
If a school in any of the NCLB Sanction Phases makes Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for one year, that school is deemed to be in “Delay Status” – which means it stays at the Phase it was in and continues complying with the consequences that Phase requires. If a school then makes AYP the following year (two consecutive years), it will come off the Sanctions list altogether.
No Grade on EducationYES! Report Card:
A, B, C grades are not calculated for schools that have less than 30 students at the grade level tested. The state is still obligated, however, to determine the AYP status of small schools. This is done through the application of a sliding confidence interval formula. Small schools thus have an AYP status but may not have an EducationYES! grade.
- Guide to Reading the 2005 School Report Card
- Schools Making AYP in 2005
- Schools Not Making AYP in 2005
- Districts Making AYP in 2005
- Districts Not Making AYP in 2005
- Media Report for the 2005 School Report Card (ZIP file containing Excel Document)
