Don’t drop out on Detroit kids

Fixing schools is most important challenge in a generation

Although there are plenty of schools in Detroit that are preparing children to lead productive and meaningful lives as adults, too many schools, regrettably, fail to make the grade. America's Promise, which recently ranked the 50 largest American school districts on high school graduation rates, rated Detroit dead last. Detroit children deserve better.

The report card on Detroit’s schools

Detroit Public Schools:

• Approximately 100,000 students in system, and declining every year
• Ongoing financial crisis
• Worst dropout rate in the country
• Poor academic performance at schools

Charter schools in Detroit:

• 45,000 students enrolled in Charter schools
• Fewer than 25% of students in Detroit’s charter high schools scored proficient in state tests
• Overall Detroit charter schools academic scores are lower or as poor as DPS schools across the board
• There are some great innovations emerging among charters that we should learn from and replicate

What Detroit needs

High Quality Schools

• A portfolio of high-quality high schools -- public, private and charter -- that serve the needs of kids in Detroit
• A plan that intends to influence the quality of schools and not the governance of schools. Governance (traditional public, charter or private) does not equate nor have any correlation with quality of schools.
• Accountability for all public schools, both DPS and charter schools.
  • More charter schools may improve education landscape in Detroit, but only if the schools are high-quality, research-based models. Detroit does not need more failing schools – public or charter. If additional charter schools are allowed in Detroit, they must be held to a high standard.
  • Is there a way to incent DPS to close failing schools and open more innovative schools that could have more authority under the district’s current auspices or either as a district-chartered school.
  • Outcome measures should be mandated within the first four years of any new public or charter schools. If the measures are not accomplished, the schools should be closed.
• Close failing schools. Detroit has lost a generation of students to schools that are not educating kids. Schools that are not meeting performance measures for more than four years should be closed.

Stability

• A stabilized DPS is good for the 100,000 children who are entrusted to their care. Further destabilization of the district though punitive measures (a new superintendent, mid-year school closures, cuts to support programs, more competition with poor performing charters) will harm Detroit children.
• Continue and expand innovation in Detroit:
  • Secure DPS’ turnaround plan at five neighborhood high schools.
  • Grow the Greater Detroit Venture Fund as a catalyst for change;
  • Support the development of education intermediaries that can work with start-up schools, help remove barriers, and ensure research-based school models are implemented.
• Grow innovative reforms in Detroit:
  • Offer incentives for DPS to charter some schools as a part of a successful recovery.
  • Create pathways for kids who have dropped out of school to come back.
  • Strengthen feeder schools (middle and K-8) into our high schools.

How to get there

• High-quality education requires high-quality instruction. Detroit classrooms need experienced, well trained teachers. Incentives must exist to put our best teachers in our neediest classrooms and keep them there.
• A rigorous curriculum. Research shows that small personalized environments are not enough to get students to college. They must also be exposed to a strong curriculum and expected to achieve.
• Small school size (no more than 500 students per school). Small schools support the academic development of students and provide the important relationships that keep kids in school. Policy should support and encourage the co-location of small schools in large physical plants.
• Principal control over staff, program and budget. Turning a school around requires a complete change in school climate and culture. Site-based management is key to instilling a new educational vision in each school. This can be done through district empowerment or charters.
• Teachers and principals accountable for results. Every staff person must be accountable for student academic growth. If prescribed outcomes have not been achieved within four years, the school should be closed.
• Innovative educators. Enlist the support of high quality teachers and principals by offering them the opportunity to open empowered or charter schools within the district that offer academic innovations. Good educators should have the opportunity to open and run good schools.
• A responsive environment for poor children. Many children in Detroit live in poverty and require additional supports in order to achieve academic success. Social services must be made available in the schools to ensure that the students’ basic needs are met.