By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Standard and Poor's School Evaluation Services in New York Tuesday recognized Dowagiac Union Schools as one of 43 Michigan school districts that are academic "outperformers."
This report represents S&P's second risk-adjusted performance analysis of Michigan school districts, updating an initial study using data for the 2004-05 school year.
To be identified as an outperformer, Dowagiac, over the course of two consecutive school years (2003-04 and 2004-05) had to report significantly higher percentages of students that scored proficient or above on state reading and math tests than other school districts with similar levels of economically-disadvantaged students.
Of the 43 outperforming districts, 30 were recognized as outperformers last year by S&P's, meaning they outperformed for three consecutive years, 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05.
S&P's said academic achievement levels were compared with the percentage of economically disadvantaged students because the two indicators are often correlated.
The 42 other outperforming districts include Adams Township School District, Bad Axe Public Schools, Birmingham City School District, Breitung Township Schools, Brown City Community Schools, Calumet-Laurium-Keewenaw Public Schools, Carney-Nadeau Public Schools, Chassell Township School District, Cheboygan Area Schools, Covert Public Schools, Dollar Bay-Tamarack Ellsworth Community Schools, Houghton-Portage Township Schools, Inland Lake Schools, Ironwood Area Schools, Ishpeming Public School District, Johannesburg-Lewiston Area Schools, Lake City Area School District, Lake Schools, Leland Public School District, Ludington Area School District, Marlette Community Schools, Midland Public Schools, Montague Area Public Schools, North Central Area Schools, North Huron School District, North Muskegon Public Schools, Okemos Public Schools, Pellston Public Schools, Rapid River Public Schools, Sandusky Community School District, Spring Lake Public Schools, Tawas Area Schools, Ubly Community Schools and Walkerville Public Schools.
"It's a real team effort here and that's why we are proud," Superintendent Peg Stowers said. "I truly believe it is because of several outstanding factors within our school district."
Stowers identified these six:
A consistent and long-term professional development program based on student achievement data and district needs.
A consistent and long-term review of curriculum and materials to insure state curriculum standards are met and taught.
A teaching and support staff that is dedicated to making solid instructional decisions based on student achievement data and state curriculum.
A district strategic plan supported and bought into by all district stakeholders, board staff, support personnel and an administration based on one major goal – student achievement.
Meeting the standards of all buildings achieving North Central Accreditation (NCA) status, which "also speaks to the strength of what is happening in Dowagiac."
Working with the K-12 "big picture as we educate our students and knowing that every level is important and proficiency at every level insures more proficiency at the next level as our students progress through the system."
"With our student demographics," Stowers added, "we have every reason to not be in this 'outperformers' group. But we are making a difference and ongoing data evaluation and program analysis are crucial to those kinds of scores and achievement levels."
S&P's developed outperformers' analysis as a way to highlight outstanding academic performance and to help educators in similar school districts identify appropriate benchmarks to guide their own improvements.
"Congratulations to these outstanding school districts," said Thomas Sheridan, vice president of Standard and Poor's School Evaluation Services.
"The data reveal that ongoing improvements are occurring in these Michigan classrooms. We hope that the effective strategies these districts are employing can be replicated or adapted elsewhere."
Achieving proficiency in reading and math for all students by 2014 is one of the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Linking school districts in need of improvement with outperforming school districts that have similar student demographics so that effective practices can be shared, replicated or adapted is one method that can help educators reach that target.
S&P's conducted its analysis using state-reported data and determined academic performance by using the aggregate percentages of students scoring proficient or better on the state's reading and math tests.
There were 24 Michigan schools that narrowed the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and all students, including Sylvester Elementary School in Berrien Springs and North Elementary School in Watervliet.
One school, Kelly Middle School in the East Detroit Public Schools, narrowed the gap between white and black students.
No Michigan school narrowed the Hispanic-white achievement gap.