Middle, elementary schools receive report cards

LANSING — The good news is all schools listed from the Cadillac area had a C or higher on their annual school report card.

The bad news is one school listed from the area, Mackinaw Trail Middle School, did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress.

About 93 percent of Michigan's public elementary and middle schools made adequate progress toward meeting requirements of No Child Left Behind laws this year which is up slightly from the nearly 92 percent that met the mark in 2006, state education officials said Friday.

Cadillac Area Public Schools Superintendent Paul Liabenow said that the school did not meet AYP due to one subgroup at the school made up of special needs students.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, all students are to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Public schools must periodically test students to gauge their success, a measure called adequate yearly progress.

The main way Michigan measures progress is through standardized tests such as the Michigan Educational Assessment Program and the Michigan Merit Exam. States are given some flexibility on setting their own standards for what constitutes adequate yearly progress, and there are dozens of ways for schools to miss the mark. One of the most common ways for schools to fail is poor performance by one of several subgroups, such as special education students or members of a racial or ethnic group.

Although schools can appeal the decision, Liabenow said the school’s appeal has already been denied so the district is looking at other options.

“In essence the rule provides a different standard for smaller districts in the state of Michigan as well as smaller districts across the country,” he said. “We are working the Michigan Department of Education as well as the U.S. Department of Education to change the number. We feel the number is too low and we want to increase the number of the sub group.”

Other middle and elementary schools from the area including in Evart, Lake City, Manton, McBain, Mesick, Pine River and Reed City all meet AYP. Buckley Community Schools was not listed.

Manton Superintendent Mark Parsons said he was pleased that both the middle and elementary met the requirements, especially since he recently took over the position.

“It is important data. It is important because it drives what we are going to work on, especially on the criteria reference tests,” he said. “We really focus on what students performed well on and where they performed poorly.”

The latest information is contained in Michigan's annual school report cards released by the state Department of Education. Scores for high schools are expected to be released this fall.

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