Detroit’s Education statistics

Detroit

Have you been in the car listening to the radio and a commercial about Detroit’s high school graduation rate comes on?! As I’m listening to the commercial I’m thinking to myself “Self, as much as these corporations are pushing education, these statistics can’t be accurate.” In 2012 the graduation rate was said to be 59%. In 2013 the rate increased by 5% bringing it to 64%. After hearing this commercial several times I decided to dig around for some information. Word for word, here is what I found:
“The ‘four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate’ is calculated by tracking individual students from the time they were enrolled as first-time ninth-graders, with a four-year expected completion rate. The formula accounts for students who leave school and return later, for students retained in a grade and stay in school, and for students who transferred into and out of the public school system. Thus, this is a more accurate measure of the Graduation rate. Students included in building rates must have been reported to the state for two or more count days. Students included in district rates must have been reported to the state for one or more count days.” (Michigan.gov/cepi)
I decided to ask a few people who work for the school system a few questions about the formula. I asked: “What about children that register at one school and then transfer to another school?” The answer I was given is that they are considered to be dropouts. My next question was: “If your child attends and registers at Communication Media Arts High School (CMA) and then transfers to The Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts (DSA), they are considered a drop out?!” The answer: Because they track students for four years based off of where they were originally registered, when tracked again that next year on count day, they are considered a dropout.
If that information is correct, it’s a little ridiculous! Think about the schools that they have closed all around the city, forcing students to attend school with students from a bunch of different neighborhoods. It’s a recipe for disaster! Just think about it: If you went to Redford (which is now closed and will be a Meijer location soon) and were forced to go to Mackenzie along with the kids that went to Henry Ford high school, what do you think your days and class sizes would be like? Let’s also not forget about the rise of the Charter Schools.

Charter Schools don’t do anything besides take money away from public schools, and their teachers aren’t required to be certified. Did I also mention that some of the same corporations that own Charter schools also own prisons.? Why do you think that is? However, it seems that many public schools are phasing out the well-rounded, efficient, certified teachers that have irreplaceable years of teaching experience. They (they- meaning the State of Michigan because that’s who governs DPS) also destroyed the unions in which teachers depend upon.  All of these factors simply display that children’s education isn’t important.

Education is not just on a downward spiral in Detroit. It’s actually happening in many major cities across the USA. For some reason Detroit is the world’s focus of bad press. Whenever the smallest thing happens the world knows about it. You can thank your local media for that, but I’ll save that for another post. It really sounds as if they are just trying to make us look bad.  Hope you all enjoyed this. I’ll see you the next time you decide to talk RAE STYLE!

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