News Flash! Only 17.8-% of MI students deemed college ready. Some are cailing this “mediocre.” I call it “failing.” The MDE finally released the embargoed MME-ACT scores for the 2013-14 juniors. And with the scores released it is no wonder the MDE wanted to hide the data as long as possible.
When only 60% of students in the state’s wealthiest district, the Bloomfield Hills Schools are considered “college ready” on the ACT, one can hardly call this “mediocre.” When the second wealthiest district, Birmingham Public Schools touts a college readiness of 44.8%, one would have to call that failing. When the highest college readiness score in the entire Macomb county is 22.6 in Romeo, one can only call that abysmal. And, when the Detroit Public Schools have a higher college readiness percentage at 2.7 and 2 to 3 times better than Highland Park, Ecorse, River Rouge, the EAA, Southfield and Oak Park, that is clear educational abuse of the students.
Further, not one district in the entire state had more than 7.8% of juniors proficient on the writing portion of the ACT. For those who will suggest this is only one data point, take a look at MI 8th grade students performance, or lack thereof on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Michigan kids can’t write when they graduate our high schools.
Mike Flanagan states, “We are getting serious about quality choices for students.” Oh really? Mr. Flanagan is in the final year of a non-extended contract and has sat at the helm of Michigan’s education-Titanic for eleven years. What has he been doing to improve quality choices or the outcomes of the students? Rick Snyder has been governor for 3 1/2 years and is asking voters for four more. Why should MI voters concerned about public education give Mr. Snyder 4 more years of our children’s educational lives?
Read today’s editorial in the Detroit News; https://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140710/OPINION01/307100001/Michigan-schools-still-largely-mediocre