The business of school gets serious when state-wide rankings emerge, often rankling the administrators, teachers, parents and even students who fall short of their own or other's expectations. There will, no doubt, be some grousing and second-guessing even in the middle of some celebrating when local school districts take a look today at what the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has to say about how their facilities have fared.
Sister Lakes Elementary School will be among those rejoicing as they appear at the top of the rankings for rural schools in today's report, 29th overall, but higher ranked than any other rural district in the state with a composite score of 98.7. The overall performer among the 2,246 elementary and middle schools in Michigan was Martin Luther King, Jr. Education Center Academy, a charter school in Detroit which scored a perfect 100 in the assessment.
That Detroit charter school was one of 15 charter schools across the state to score in the Top 100.
Ben DeGrow is Education Policy Director at the Mackinac Center and co-authored the report with Audrey Spalding, and education policy fellow with the Center. He says, "This report card provides parents, educators and lawmakers with a better apples-to-apples comparison of schools across the state." He adds, "It helps find schools that are outperforming their peers and many of these schools are ones that are not typically considered to be high-performing. But, it also identifies schools that may look like they're doing just fine, but are actually underperforming when their student population is taken into account."
Unlike many other school rankings — including ones provided by the Michigan Department of Education — the Context & Performance Report Card (CAP) takes into account student poverty levels and relies on several years of state test scores to provide the most accurate picture of school performance according to the Mackinac Center organizers.
DeGrow contends, "These results show that a school's success is not limited to the family backgrounds of its students." He suggests, "Schools like Martin Luther King, Jr. Education Center Academy and Sister Lakes Elementary deserve recognition for beating the odds in helping students that come through their doors."
Three years' worth of Michigan Educational Assessment Program scores in several subjects were adjusted based on the percentage of students who qualified for a free lunch. A school's "CAP Score" indicates how far above or below projections a school performed, given its student population's socioeconomic status, with 100 set as the average.
Berrien Springs Public Schools considerably outperformed the rest of the county, placing Berrien Springs Middle School at the top of the local heap with a ranking of #41 statewide based on a score of 98.2. Right behind them in second place was Sylvester Elementary in Berrien Springs cracking the Top 100 at #100 straight up with a score of 95.5. Both schools earned "A" grades as a result.
Eau Claire Public School's Lybrook Elementary finished 3rd countywide with a statewide rank of #148 based on an "A" grade of 93.4. Rounding out the top five performers in Berrien County where two Benton Harbor schools, the Benton Harbor Charter School at #202 with an "A" grade of 91.0 and Countryside Academy with a "B" grade of 89.6, good for #233 on the statewide chart.
Not faring quite as strongly where local schools in the St. Joseph and Lakeshore Districts. Lakeshore Middle School clocks in at #669 in the state for a "B" grade based on a score of 70.2, while St. Joseph's Upton Middle School barely makes the top 1,000 at #994 with a "C" grade of 55.7.
You can see the entire listing statewide by clicking the link below:
