Michigan Districts Must Allow Students to Move from Schools with Performance Gaps

A requirement mandated by the Michigan Department of Education for schools with large gaps in performance will mean the possibility of substantial student-shifting for the .

As part of a set of requirements for state-named "Focus Schools," , districts will have to allow a number of students to move out of any school in that category and into another designated school within the district beginning in the 2012-13 school year.

The requirement only applies to schools that are receiving Title I dollars – a federal program that helps to fund schools with high percentages of students from low-income families. Districts are left to decide how many spots will be open for each school, but must provide transportation for these transferred students to the new school.

The district is required to set aside 10 percent of its Title 1 funding for these transportation costs.

According to Vanessa Keesler, the head of Evaluation, Research and Accountability for the Michigan Department of Education, this school-of-choice policy has always been in place for schools that have not achieved AYP status.

But the Focus School designation – applied to 358 schools in 176 districts across the state – is one of three new categories identified by the MDE, .

Reward Schools are the top five percent of all Michigan schools and the top five percent making the greatest academic progress; Priority Schools are the lowest achieving schools in the state; Focus Schools are the 10 percent of schools with the widest academic disparity between the top 30 percent of students and the bottom 30 percent.

Twelve Troy schools received the Focus School designation: , ,  and  middle schools; , , , , ,  and  elementary schools; and . 

Troy Schools spokeswoman Kerry Birmingham said there is an explanation for the large number of focus schools in Troy.

“The reason for that is because we have such high achieving kids," Birmingham said. "We anticipated being on a list like this because our top 30 percent score so high that the gap is going to be naturally higher for a district or school that is high performing.

"We have kids that score 100 percent, and then you’re comparing those kids to the lower 30 percent. Not that we don’t take that seriously or work to improve ... but I don’t know that the label ‘focus school’ is particularly helpful for us because it doesn’t change what we do.”

Beyond allowing some students to transfer schools, Focus Schools must utilize an MDE-provided District Toolkit, plus MDE-trained and paid-for District Improvement Facilitators. Both are aimed at closing the achievement gap.

Districts will have one year to self-diagnose and self-prescribe customized changes in their supports to the Focus Schools and their students, according to the MDE. There are escalating supports and consequences for Focus Schools that do not close their achievement gaps.

“We are committed to closing the achievement gaps in all of our schools for all of our students,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said of Focus Schools. “With this measure of transparency, schools will be identified and held accountable for the achievement of all of their students.”