LANSING – The Michigan Department of Education today issued its EducationYES! Report Cards to Michigan elementary, middle, and high schools along with the annual report on each school’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as required by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said that he is very encouraged that 163 schools have come off the NCLB sanctions list. These schools have made AYP for two consecutive years, after several years of not making the grade.

“It is a tremendous accomplishment for these schools, their staffs, and of course, their students,” Flanagan said.  “Fifty-five of these schools were in the most advanced phases of the federal sanctions system that required them to restructure in order to help improve the academic achievement of their students.”

Schools that don’t make AYP for two or more consecutive years are placed on the sanctions list, as required by federal law. The sanctions get progressively severe with each additional year a school does not make AYP, ranging from having to provide school choice and transportation to another school, to tutorial services for the students, to eventual school restructuring.

In addition to the 163 schools that have come off the sanctions list this year, another 92 schools in various phases of NCLB sanctions have made AYP for the first year and are considered in “Delayed Status.” If they make AYP again next year, they will come off the sanctions list then.

“It is evident that when we focus resources on these critical, high-priority schools it has a positive impact on schools and can help students achieve at higher levels,” said State Board of Education President Kathleen N. Straus.  “We need to use these success strategies and replicate them with other struggling schools across the state.”

More schools still face hurdles however, Flanagan explained, as federal decisions on the requirements and implementation of NCLB have caused more schools not to make AYP this year overall.  This year, 544 schools did not make AYP, compared to 436 last year.

A federal decision to not allow Michigan to count the scores of two of the three assessments for students with disabilities increased by 100 (from 69 to 169) the number of schools not making AYP for that reason alone. 

Also this year, alternative high schools that educate former drop-outs were added to the AYP roster. As a result, the number of schools that didn’t make AYP for having a graduation rate below 80 percent jumped from 99 schools last year to 157 schools this year.  And the implementation of testing every student in grades 3-8 in math and English language arts – an increase of some 500,000 more students – most likely had an impact in the number of elementary schools not making AYP jumping from 18 last year to 69 this year, Flanagan said.

“Whenever a single school does not make AYP, it is a cause for concern,” Flanagan said. “We are committed to improving the quality of education for all children and helping every school make AYP each year. Michigan ’s economic survival depends on a highly-educated workforce that will continue to attract the high-tech industries of the 21^st Century.”

The data released today by the Michigan Department of Education also showed that 327 more schools (1,186 in 2006 to 859 in 2005) earned an “A” on the EducationYES! state Report Card this year over last. Conversely, the numbers of schools receiving the lower grades of D-Alert and Unaccredited were reduced. The number of D-Alert schools went from 126 in 2005 to 109 this year; and the number of Unaccredited schools dropped from 22 last year to five this year.

The EducationYES! School Report Cards are a compilation of student scores on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) tests; the MI-Access alternate assessments for students with disabilities; AYP designation; and in various, self-reported, school performance indicators – such as family involvement in the schools, curriculum, student attendance, and professional development for its teachers.

The public can access statewide, local school district, and individual school building data from the Michigan Department of Education's School Report Card Website.

2006 Education YES! Report Card at a Glance