State releases school rankings and report cards

(WXYZ) - Now you can see how well your child's school stacks up against others in Michigan.

Today the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) released the 2012 school rankings and report cards.

VIEW THE "TOP-TO-BOTTOM" SCHOOL  RANKINGS HERE: https://www.mischooldata.org/DistrictSchoolProfiles/ReportCard/TopToBottomRanking/TopToBottomRankingList.aspx

SEARCH FOR YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL REPORT CARD HERE: https://www.mischooldata.org/DistrictSchoolProfiles/ReportCard/SchoolReportCard/SchoolReportCard.aspx

The Michigan Department of Education ranks every public school in Michigan in the annual "Top-to-Bottom" ranking.  In the School Report Card, you can also find out whether a school meets the federal No Child Left Behind's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmark.

The report card also includes the school's Education YES! letter grade.

This year, the state is sorting schools into one of three categories. The categories were developed because Michigan was granted flexibility from the U.S. Department of Education on the No Child Left Behind Act.

Each school is classified as a "Reward School," "Focus School" or "Priority School."

Reward schools are in the top 5 percent of the top-to-bottom state rankings and outperform other schools with similar risk factors.  They are also among the top 5 percent of schools making the greatest academic progress over the previous four years.   There are 286 Reward Schools in 178 school districts. 

"We applaud the hard work and achievement of the educators and students in our Reward Schools because they are zeroed in on improving learning," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan.  "We need to instill that goal in so many more schools in order to help all kids be career- and college-ready and successful in life."

The schools that will be identified in the fall as "Beating the Odds" schools will also fall under this category.

According to the MDE, reward schools will be highlighted at state conferences and may be allowed increased flexibility in the use of federal grant funds.

Focus schools have large achievement gaps between the top 30 percent of students and the bottom 30 percent of students. If a school is classified into this category, the MDE will offer support to the school by helping it analyze achievement data, facilitate professional dialogue and customize interventions.

These schools will received a trained and paid-for District Improvement Facilitator to help close the achievement gap.  School districts will have one year to self-diagnose issues at its Focus Schools and come up with changes.

There are 358 Focus Schools in 176 districts across Michigan.

Priority schools are in the bottom 5 percent of the Top-to-Bottom state rankings. Priority schools will be placed under the authority of the State School Reform Office.  These schools will have to implement an intervention model to improve student achievement.

The MDE says if any Priority School does not implement its intervention model and make substantial growth in student learning, it may be placed in the statewide Education Achievement Authority (EAA) school system.

There are 146 Priority Schools in 49 school districts.

The rankings and report cards are released on the MDE website .

You can get further information at:

For individual school and district data, visit www.MISchoolData.org and click on Dashboard & School Report Card button located on the left.

Reward School information can be found at www.mi.gov/rewardschools ;

Focus School information is available at www.mi.gov/focusschools ;

Priority School (formerly Persistently Lowest Achieving School) information is at www.mi.gov/priorityschools ; and Top to Bottom ranking information is at www.mi.gov/ttb .