"NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia stopped at Flint Northwestern as part of statewide tour on Sept. 24 to celebrate it being moved off a Michigan Department of Education "priority schools list."
The state applies this label to the lowest performing 5 percent of schools, which makes them subject to increased supervision.
Academic outcomes at the school show little cause for celebration. Flint Northwestern had a four-year graduation rate of 66 percent in 2012-13 — its lowest in five years.
In 2010-11, it was ranked among the bottom 13 percent of Michigan public schools.
In 2011-12, it fell to the bottom 8 percent, and in 2012-13 joined the lowest 5 percent.
In that year, 17 percent of students scored proficient on the Michigan Merit Exam reading test.
The school's ranking in the bottom 6 percent this year represents a marginal improvement after three years of decline.
Yet during her visit, Eskelsen Garcia said, “This is a school that did it right.”
She told school employees, "To me, a really good school is one that's involving the whole community in caring for kids,"
"We're moving up!" a Northwestern teacher said, according to a Michigan Education Association press release."
No comments:
Post a Comment