A Tale of Two Schools: A Cautionary Tale on School Rankings

The following opinion is my own and not the opinion of anyone else affiliated with One Southwest Michigan, One Community:

The Michigan Department of Education recently released rankings of all schools in the State of Michigan, nearly 3,800 of them. School rankings sometimes reduce complex educational problems into overly simplified tables. Local newspapers have described the methodology behind the rankings as: "approved by the US Department of Education," not a very thorough explanation.

Similarly, Consumer Reports (CR) reviews and ranks the best and worst automobiles in the country. In order to prepare these rankings, CR performs their own thorough tests of vehicles as well as surveys thousands of vehicle owners throughout the country.

One way to think of the CR rankings is that they take a look at what auto companies do with the raw materials they are provided (i.e., steel, plastic, and rubber) and try to assess the quality of the finished product. The results can be surprising: The lowly and moderately priced Chevrolet Malibu is a much more highly rated vehicle than the over priced Cadillac Escalade, and for that matter higher rated than all other Cadillac models. Personally, I would rather drive a Chevy Malibu than a Cadillac, but I wonder if most Americans would feel the same way.

I would guess that most of the journalists doing the reporting on the recent release of the Michigan Department of Education rankings, and for that matter the readers of the articles, have no idea what criteria or methodology were used to rank the schools as the “best” or the “worst”.

Let me give you an example. Let's call it "A Tale of Two Schools."

East Grand Rapids, aka, Cadillac Escalade, and Hartford High School, aka, Chevrolet Malibu. East GR is one of the wealthiest communities in West Michigan. Lots of doctors, lawyers, and other professionals call East GR their home. There are lots of million dollar homes in East GR. Not so many in Hartford. Here is some data on the two schools:

% of Children Who are Poor (i.e., qualify for lunch program)

East G.R. = 9%
Hartford = 70%

% of Schools Which the School Outperforms

East G.R. = 62%
Hartford = 47%

+ Increase or - Decline in Performance from the District's Middle School

East G.R. = -33%
Hartford = +25%

East GR's middle school is in the top 5% of the state in academic performance. On top of that, all of East GR's elementary schools are in the top 10%, one of them Wealthy Elementary, is in the top 1%. 95% of the schools in the State have more poor children than East GR. So basically, East GR High School takes kids from lower grades who are in the top 10% of achievement in the state, living in one of the wealthiest suburban communities in the state (as measured by free/reduced lunch counts), with some of the best school facilities in the state on the banks of Reeds Lake where they win lots of state athletic championships, and turns them into average achievers at their high school so that their parents with all of their political connections can then spend lots of money to send them to the nation's Ivy league and other premier colleges.

Why is East GR High School not on the list of poorly performing schools? The “raw materials” they receive from lower grades tell me that they should be performing much better than they are.

On the other hand, Hartford High School in rural Michigan and one of the poorer communities in the state, takes kids from lower grades, who admittedly should be doing better, and turns them into students who achieve nearly as well as East Grand Rapids students: average for the state. And since Hartford parents don't have the resources and political connections of their Kent County counterparts, my guess is that Hartford kids go on to achieve excellence at schools that are not for U.S. News and World Reports Ivy League elite, i.e., schools like Western, Grand Valley, and Michigan State. And I would bet that right now Hartford teachers and administrators are working diligently to improve the educational opportunity for all kids, not just a rich elite few.

The moral of the story is that a good Chevy is always better than a crummy, over priced Cadillac.

My kudos to Hartford High School for achieving nearly as well as East GR with far fewer resources. Hartford High School far outperforms its peers in improving educational achievement for its students. You make all of us Chevy owners proud!

Finally, I wish journalists would dig a little deeper into a story about educational achievement to understand and explain how the rankings come about. The simple statement that it is a system of ranking “approved by the US Department of Education” is not a very thorough explanation.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Training Tuesday in St. Joseph

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Berrien and Cass has scheduled an In-Service Training Meeting for its Big Brothers and Big Sisters, both community-based and site-based, on Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lakeland Regional Medical Center’s Community Meeting Room at 1234 Napier Ave. in St. Joseph.

The staff will present the Child Safety and Youth Protection Guidelines and Ground Rules, guidelines which will help the mentor volunteers develop a healthy relationship with their Littles and will help them teach the children in their care about appropriate boundaries as well as how to build skills which will protect them from violence while allowing them to recognize and trust the caring adults in their lives.

BBBS also welcomes prospective volunteers to this training, as long as they preregister by calling 684-1100 ext. 3 or e-mailing info@bbbsofbc.org.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is a United Way-funded program.

To learn more about mentoring opportunities available for volunteers at BBBS, go to

www.bbbsofbc.org

The above article originally appeared in the Niles Daily Star at:

www.nilesstar.com/2011/08/25/big-brothers-big-sisters-training-tuesday-in-st-joseph/

ABC's hunger at Home: Crisis in America Report

ABC News is focusing on hunger and poverty in the United States. This report discusses the 14.7 million children in poverty:

Ain't Tina Turner Classical Music?: Benefit Performances for Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen

The Box Factory for the Performing Arts in St. Joseph, Michigan will be hosting a performance for the benefit of the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen.

The play is entitled:

"Ain't Tina Turner Classical Music"

The play was written by South Haven native Linda LaRocque and is a play about homelessness and the unshakable human spirit. The production tells the story of three homeless people and their abilities (and inabilities) to cope with daily life. Despite shame, guilt, fear, and adversity, the bountiful human spirit continues to march forward.

Performances are tentatively scheduled for Saturday, November 19 4:00 and 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 20, a 2:00 p.m. matinee.

The Soup Kitchen's web site which has preliminary information to be updated is at:

www.soup-kitchen.org/-/

And just to get you in the mood:

Student Loan Debt Has Grown by 511% In a Decade

You think the housing bubble was enormous? Meet the education bubble. On Wednesday, an (in The Atlantic) by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus explained the debt crisis at American colleges. But some startling statistics will help to make their analysis a little more tangible. The growth in student loans over the past decade has been truly staggering.

Here's a chart based on New York Federal Reserve data for household debt. The red line shows the cumulative growth in student loans since 1999. The blue line shows the growth of all other household debt except for student loans over the same period.

This chart looks like a mistake, but it's correct. Student loan debt has grown by 511% over this period. In the first quarter of 1999, just $90 billion in student loans were outstanding. As of the second quarter of 2011, that balance had ballooned to $550 billion.



www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/chart-of-the-day-student-loans-have-grown-511-since-1999/243821/

Pokagon United Methodist Fills 25 Backpacks a Week with Food For Dowagiac Elementary Students

Pokagon United Methodist Church fills 25 backpacks a week with food to feed Patrick Hamilton Elementary School students in Dowagiac during the school year.

PUMC’s backpack ministry began last spring through elementary counselor Lisa Armijo, Shari Bradke said Wednesday evening as the Youth Adventure pre-teen K-7 group demonstrates how their assembly line works for replenishing the washable blue bags, which they then pray over.

“It costs $6 a backpack,” Bradke said. “We deliver the backpacks on Friday so they can take them home” over the weekends. “They bring them back on Monday, or sometimes it’s Tuesday or Wednesday. We haven’t not gotten a backpack back yet.”

Bradke said, “We work through the counselor. She’s the one who gave us the names of the kids. There are approximately 200 kids in the Dowagiac school system who could use backpacks,” which is why PUMC plans a holiday bazaar fundraiser for the ministry Nov. 12 at Dowagiac Lions Club.

“We’re trying to contact other churches and organizations to see if they would give us donations, or if they would take on a backpack program so more kids can be fed,” said Bradke, who can be contacted at (574) 309-0260.

www.dowagiacnews.com/2011/08/17/pokagon-umc-fills-25-backpacks-a-week/

Second Impressions in Kalamazoo will Give Away Leftover Summer Clothing on Friday Morning

People in need in Kalamazoo will have a chance to get their hands on free clothes Friday morning.

Second Impressions, 3750 S. Westnedge Ave., will be offering its entire leftover stock of used summer clothes from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Friday for Kalamazoo residents who can't afford it otherwise.

Customers who stop by will be able to take as much clothing as they want for free.

www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/08/second_impressions_in_kalamazo.html

Poor often don’t know benefit of banks: Study by U Mass Dartmouth

Low-income families use costly check-cashing and loan services not because they lack access to banks, but because they lack knowledge of banking options and their advantages, according to a study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

For example, the study found that about one in four low-income residents in the New Bedford area do not have a bank account because they believe they cannot afford it - although most community banks and credit unions offer low-cost or free accounts as required by state law. In addition, the study found, even low-income residents with bank accounts still use check-cashing establishments more than their banks...

...On average, low-income people without bank accounts spend about 5 percent of their income, about $800 to $1,000 a year, on fees from check-cashing services, according to Bank On, a San Francisco program that aims to remove banking barriers for people with low incomes. That adds up to about $40,000 over a working life.

articles.boston.com/2011-07-06/business/29744008_1_bank-accounts-convenient-hours-and-locations-check-cashing-services

How to Change This? Tests Scores in Schools Closely Follow School Poverty Rates

The debate over how to fix Michigan’s education system often boils down to arguments over budgets, benefits, teacher tenure and class size.

Those issues may affect the way children learn in school, but U.S. Census figures hint at a single, overriding factor: Poverty.

Estimates of poverty and income show school districts with the lowest reading and math scores are often those with the highest poverty rates.

The pattern is clear both locally and statewide.

Across Michigan, such districts as Muskegon Heights, Flint Beecher and Benton Harbor have high poverty rates and low test scores.

The state’s wealthiest districts — including Bloomfield Hills, Northville, East Grand Rapids and Dexter — have median family incomes above $100,000 and very high test scores.

www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/08/school_achievement_closely_tra.html

P.S. For full disclosure, as of August 2011 I started working as an Interim Financial Officer for the Benton Harbor Schools.

Michigan Begins Notifying Families that Welfare Benefits are Running Out

Michigan has begun notifying some families receiving welfare benefits that their federal assistance is running out.

The move could affect nearly 14,000 families who had secured an extension on the 5-year federal limit to receive benefits, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Letters began going out Tuesday that include contact information for caseworkers who will try to help families find other assistance programs. They also encourage recipients to call United Way's referral service for help getting additional assistance, if needed.

"I'm concerned" about the families, said Michigan Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan, "but we're here to help them make that transition - to fulfill the intent of the law and to get them to self-sufficiency."

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110810/NEWS04/108100334/Michigan-lets-some-families-know-welfare-aid-running-out