West Bloomfield Schools Receive Mostly 'A' Grades from State

As a district, showed Adequate Yearly Progress in math and reading during the 2010-11 school year, as recorded on the state's school report cards released today.

Eight West Bloomfield schools received an "A" grade on the report, which looks at schools' progress in several areas, including MEAP scores in math and reading, attendance records and graduation rates. Other schools outside of the district but located inside the township, including , , and in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District and and in Bloomfield Hills Schools, received an "A."

Two West Bloomfield schools which did not receive an "A" include the , which has not been in existance for several years, according to district spokeswoman Pam Zajac, and Oakland Early College. During their time at Oakland Early College, students earn a high school diploma as well as college credit. In report documentation on the school's website, the school has achieved 92 percent or above pass rates in all three years, with 98 percent of summer 2010 students earning passing grades.

The full report of schools and grades can be found here.

AYP scores are what the federal government uses to hold schools accountable. They are calculated for all 3,437 public schools in the state using target achievement goals.

Overall, Michigan schools saw a 7.1 percentage point decrease in students making AYP, dropping from from 86 percent of schools in 2009-10 to 79 percent in 2010-11.

State school officials attributed the overall drop in scores to the increased rigor: Federal proficiency targets increased this year and schools had to have a higher percentage of students proficient to be considered as having made AYP.

"We are raising the bar on what they need to know, to also raise AYP simultaneously is very, very difficult," said Jan Ellis, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Education, in a statement released along with the data.

Between the 2009-10 and the 2010-11 school year, targets jumped between 8 percent and 10 percent. For instance, in math, 2010-11 represented the first proficiency target increase since 2006-07; the previous three years retained the same targets.

Ellis said every time the state increases the target by 10 or 12 points, especially in math, there tends to be a group of students on the cusp, that when the scores increase, they just don't make it.

The reduction in the percentage of schools meeting AYP can be seen most significantly in high schools, where there was a 21.9 percent decrease in the number of high schools making AYP this year. Alternative schools also had a substantial decrease in the percentage making AYP, from 36.6 percent last year to 17.7 percent this year.

Ellis said the state is awaiting word on whether the federal government will give Michigan a waiver on meeting proficiency targets in the next 10 years as it works on boosting overall academic performance.

Patch had not received comment from the West Bloomfield School District as of Monday afternoon.