90 Reasons that Segregating Poor Children into Poor Schools Does Not Help Their Academic Achievement

Recently, the Michigan Department of Education released a list of the 92 schools in Michigan which have had the lowest academic achievement of all schools in the state over the past several years. 90 of these schools have more than the state average percentage of free/reduced lunch children. These schools are at-risk in that the federal No Child Left Behind law requires they be closed, restructured, firing the principal and most of the staff, etc.

Tough stuff. Perhaps, some would argue tough love. We need to have high expectations for all children in all of our schools in Michigan. Teachers and principals, counselors and social workers, central office administrators and school board members need to be held accountable. I would not argue that point and I don't think too many would argue that point. (Did I mention parents or guardians? I should have.)

On the other hand, we need also to bring to light some of the problems that these schools have. They are predominantly poor schools in poor areas of our state and serve predominantly poor children.

Here are some statistics that bring this point home. The data is from the fall 2009 student count data that is maintained by CEPI (the Center for Educational Performance Information) in Lansing:

Total schools in Michigan: 3,751

Number of students in those schools: 1,632,622

Number of students eligible for free/reduced price lunch: 744,786

State wide percentage of students eligible for free/reduced: 45.87%

Number of schools who were identified as worst performers: 92

Number of students who attended the 92 schools in fall 2009: 67,108

Number of students in those 92 schools eligible for free/reduced price lunch: 50,313

Number of the 92 schools with higher than state average free/reduced eligibility: 90 (or 97.83% of the 92 schools)

Percentage of students in the 92 schools eligible for free/reduced price lunch: 74.97%

Number of schools not identified in the group of 92: 3,659

Number of students who attended school in the 3,659 schools: 1,556,514

Number of students in the 3,659 schools eligible for free/reduced price lunch: 694,473

Percentage of students in 3,659 schools eligible for free/reduced price lunch: 44.62%

Percentage of schools in the 3,659 with more than state average of free/reduced price lunch: 54.3%

True, there are schools that do quite well on standard test scores that are schools predominantly made up of poor children. But as the statistics show, the odds are that much more difficult for these children to succeed when they are segregated from their middle and upper class peers.

The 92 schools should be held accountable for their poor performances. However, who is going to hold accountable the State of Michigan, Michigan Department of Education, the State legislature and Governor, school boards and central office administrators throughout the state? (Don't forget the parents and guardians.)

The 45.87% of our children in Michigan who are eligible for free/reduced price lunch deserve to know.

My point is this. We do not help our poor children by segregating them in poor schools.

As the former Budget Director for the Grand Rapids Schools, I always used an example:

Sigsbee Elementary in Grand Rapids used to have more than 90% of its children who qualified for free/reduced price lunch. Sigsbee also had terrible results on MEAP scores. One of the lowest in the city.

Just a little over one mile down the road was an elementary school called, I kid you not, Wealthy Elementary. Wealthy is in East Grand Rapids. Wealthy has always had very few poor children and some of the highest MEAP test scores in Michigan.