Grosse Pointe Public Schools Earn 100 Percent AYP Score

In results released this week, received a 100 percent for its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which measures the growth of students for one complete academic year using several metrics. 

In addition to the federal guidelines, schools also are graded through a state accreditation system known as Education Yes!, and each individual school in the district received an A, the highest grade a school is eligible to receive.

The results are based on measurements of several factors including:

• Third-grade reading proficiency
• Third- to eighth-grade student academic growth
• Math and reading proficiency in grades three to eight
• Student proficiency on the MME
• ACT composite score
• ACT college readiness benchmarks
• Four-year graduation rate

It also considers information on:

• Self-reported bullying on school property
• Free or reduced lunch eligibility

The district received a 100 percent for the AYP review last year as well, and has traditionally scored well on standardized tests. AYP is part of the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

“While we are pleased that each of our schools has again earned an A on the State of Michigan report card and all were designated as having made Adequate Yearly Progress, we continue to implement our school improvement plans so that student learning continues to increase and each and every child finds success in our classrooms,” Superintendent C. Suzanne Klein said.

Overall, Michigan schools saw a 7.1 percentage point decrease in students making AYP, dropping from 86 percent of schools in 2009-10 to 79 percent in 2010-11. 

Michigan high school students showed significant declines in the percentage of high schools making AYP, going from 81.9 percent last year to 60 percent this year. 

Jan Ellis, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Education, suggested the drop is the result of increasing proficiency targets amid growing academic expectations. She said every time the state increases the target by 10 or 12 points, especially in math, there tends to be a group of students on the cusp, that when the scores increase, they just don't make it.

She said the math targets, for instance, had not increased for three years in a row, giving some students a chance to start to catch up, then they jumped significantly this past year, which put students behind again. 

"We are raising the bar on what they need to know, to also raise AYP simultaneously is very, very difficult," she said.

Ellis said the state is awaiting word on whether the federal government will give Michigan a waiver on meeting proficiency targets in the next 10 years as it works on boosting overall academic performance. 

She said that will allow the state to balance yearly progress with the increase in rigor in schools in Michigan are facing as the state adopts Common Core Standards.

"We want to raise the rigor of what students know, rather than lower the bar," she said.

Common Core Standards, essentially means setting specific goals for what students need to know in each subject. For instance, what exactly students should know in each grade/subject to have a clear understanding of it.

This, Ellis said, will better prepare students for college and career paths, make them ready to take the national assessment test, boost ACT scores and give a better understanding of what they are being taught. 

Teresa Mask contributed to this story.