Detroit worst in math, reading scores among big cities For a fourth straight time, Detroit students have scored the lowest among big-city districts in math and reading, according to national test results released Wednesday. Detroit Public Schools’ fourth- and eighth-graders lagged students in 20 other districts included in the National Assessment of Educational Progress Trial Urban District Assessment. DPS also ranked lowest in 2009, 2011 and 2013. Achievement levels on the exam are basic, proficient and advanced. The results did include some positive news for the state’s largest district. In math, 36 percent of DPS fourth-graders achieved at or above basic level, up from 35 percent in 2013, while 27 percent of eighth-graders tested at or above basic, up from 24 percent. In reading, 27 percent of Detroit fourth-graders tested at or above basic, down from 30 percent in 2013, while 44 percent of eighth-graders were at or above basic, down from 46 percent. Detroit has a lot of company. Gov. SLewis@detroitnews.com
A Dream Still Deferred AT first glance, the numbers released by the Census Bureau last week showing a precipitous drop in Detroit’s population — 25 percent over the last decade — seem to bear a silver lining: most of those leaving the city are blacks headed to the suburbs, once the refuge of mid-century white flight. But a closer analysis of the data suggests that the story of housing discrimination that has dominated American urban life since the early 20th century is far from over. In the Detroit metropolitan area, blacks are moving into so-called secondhand suburbs: established communities with deteriorating housing stock that are falling out of favor with younger white homebuyers. If historical trends hold, these suburbs will likely shift from white to black — and soon look much like Detroit itself, with resegregated schools, dwindling tax bases and decaying public services.
Report: 75% Of Detroit Schools Don’t Provide Adequate Education DETROIT (WWJ) – An annual ranking released Wednesday shows that only one-quarter of the schools in Detroit are providing an adequate education for its students. Excellent Schools Detroit — a coalition of leaders in many different areas, ranging from education, philanthropic and community groups — releases a yearly scorecard to help parents make sense of the city’s school system and find the best fit for their child. The organization’s scorecard on Detroit schools for 2013 found that — of the 204 schools graded — 51 earned “C+” or higher. Dan Varner, chief executive officer of Excellent Schools Detroit, said the scorecard helps parents draw the line between good schools they would recommend (C+ and higher) and those that are not good enough. “Detroit’s been waiting for this moment to fully understand how our schools rank, not just against each other, but in measuring up to established excellence standards,” Varner said in a statement.
Detroit Public Schools: 93% Not Proficient in Reading; 96% Not Proficient in Math Flanked by Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. John Boehner, President George Bush signs the No Child Left Behind Act in January 2002. (CNSNews.com) - In the Detroit public school district, 96 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in mathematics and 93 percent are not proficient in reading. That is according to the results of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress tests published by the Department of Education’s National Center for Educational Statistics. Only 4 percent of Detroit public school eighth graders are proficient or better in math and only 7 percent in reading. According to data published by the Detroit Public Schools, the school district’s operating expenses in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2014 amounted to approximately $14,743 per student. Nationwide, only 33 percent of public-school eighth graders scored proficient or better in reading in 2015 and only 32 percent scored proficient or better in mathematics.
Eight miles of murder Even by the low standards of Eight Mile Road, the Triple C bar was a seedy place to die. It is a squat one-storey building, windowless and dingy. The only hint at the nightclub inside is three white 'C's tacked to a dirty wall. To many, Eight Mile is a familiar name - made famous by the semi-autobiographical movie of the same name by rapper Eminem. But unlike the white rapper Eminem, the black Proof - real name DeShaun Holton - showed that most people do not escape Eight Mile. But Eight Mile means far more than another dead Detroit rapper, far more than one successful movie. Walking from one side of Eight Mile Road to the other is a jarring experience. In Detroit the unemployment rate is 14.1 per cent, more than double the national average. That decision goes to the core of the problem: race. The second blow to Detroit was one of employment. Yet to the north of Eight Mile lies a land of office parks and strip malls. The city has experienced a flowering of talented rappers.
Is a solution finally here for education in Detroit? The new group assembled to rethink education in Detroit walks in shallow footsteps trenched by too many before them who have thought small and acted smaller. My hope for the coalition — made up of 31 leaders across business, nonprofit, activist and union sectors across the city — is that it will get it right. My expectations, however, are tempered. The schools here, all of them, are a product of nearly 40 years of neglect, nearly as deep and profound as the carelessness that led the city to the depths. There will be no miracle solutions. Still, this coalition debuts at a time when change seems inevitable for city schools. And there has been a flurry of negotiations in Lansing between city and state officials about a new, overarching solution for public and charter schools in Detroit, one that, it is hoped, will address the failures on both sides to provide enough quality alternatives for city parents. ■ Governance doesn’t matter. ■ Choice is good, but only in tandem with quality.
DPS math, reading scores still bottom in national test For the fourth time in a row, Detroit ranked last among urban school districts that participated in a rigorous national test, with students showing no significant improvement in math or reading. Detroit Public Schools fourth- and eighth-grade students were among children in 21 cities who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam as part of the Trial Urban District Assessment. The Detroit scores showed a slight increase in math proficiency, but also a slight decline in reading proficiency, from 2013 to 2015. The changes were so small they were "not statistically significant," said Peggy Carr, acting commissioner for the Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Education Statistics. "Detroit has a bit of work to do," Carr said during a conference call. U.S. On Tuesday, he offered advice, saying Detroit should look at what's happened in urban areas such as the District of Columbia. "They've seen real and sustained improvement," Duncan said. How Detroit students fared
Detroit Arcadia | Essay | Rebecca Solnit Until recently there was a frieze around the lobby of the Hotel Pontchartrain in downtown Detroit, a naively charming painting of a forested lakefront landscape with Indians peeping out from behind the trees. The hotel was built on the site of Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, the old French garrison that three hundred years ago held a hundred or so pioneer families inside its walls while several thousand Ottawas and Hurons and Potawatomis went about their business outside, but the frieze evoked an era before even that rude structure was built in the lush woodlands of the place that was not yet Michigan or the United States. Scraped clear by glaciers during the last ice age, the landscape the French invaded was young, soggy, and densely forested. Fort Pontchartrain was never meant to be the center of a broad European settlement. The old Ford headquarters in Highland Park. © Misty Keasler This continent has not seen a transformation like Detroit’s since the last days of the Maya.
Division of Finance - Detroit Public Schools DPS is focused on creating a culture of excellence that permeates our system of schools. To do that, we are creating and maintaining an organization that totally accepts its responsibility for making DPS a top-rate school district. That begins with the budget, which is fiscally sound, balanced and focused on driving resources where they are most impactful—to our classrooms and our students. About our finances The FY 2015 Detroit Public Schools Proposed Budget contains Summaries of Expenditures including an overview of uses of monies for personnel, purchased services, supplies and materials, capital equipment, utilities, debt services, and transfers and other expenditures. It also includes Summaries of Revenues and Fund Appropriations including the General Purpose Fund, Adult Education Fund, State and Federal Grant Funds, Special Education Program Funds, Consolidated Funds, Food Service Fund and Capital Funds. Proposed Budget for the 2014–15 Fiscal Year Resources
Detroit, Losing Population, Makes Plans to Shrink “The biggest problems are those people who are on the outskirts more than anything else, where neighborhoods have gone down to a point where it makes no sense to reinvest,” he said. “People will say, ‘Well, why not me?’ And I’m saying, we don’t have the money to do that.” Detroit is already shrinking on its own, of course. Recent census figures show the city, once the nation’s fourth largest, lost a quarter of its population in the last decade alone, leaving it with fewer than 714,000 people. But the losses have been spread around the city, meaning that vacant, dilapidated homes and empty lots speckle Detroit’s neighborhoods, rather than cropping up in consolidated, convenient chunks on the city edges, leaving a more vibrant core. And so, a contingent of private consultants and city officials like Ms. Among the dismal findings: more than 100,000 parcels, private and public, are vacant; and only 38 percent of Detroiters work in the city. Photo “I’m going to stay right here,” said Mr. Mr.
Eight Mile Road | Detroit Historical Society Eight Mile Road was originally a dirt road that was designated as M-102 in 1928. Gradually, the road was widened and extended. Currently it exists in most areas as an eight-lane road, spanning more than 20 miles across metropolitan Detroit. Its more popular name is derived from the Detroit area’s Mile Road System. On a map, Eight Mile separates Wayne and Washtenaw counties from Macomb, Oakland, and Livingston, and Macomb counties. Eight Mile Road also played a role in one of the most notable controversies of famed Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Along its most impoverished sections, Eight Mile Road has, for several decades, been a destitute, dangerous strip of suffering businesses and broken windows. The notion of Eight Mile as Detroit’s dividing line was catapulted into the national media spotlight through local rapper Eminem’s hit film 8-Mile. View all items related to Eight Mile Road
Detroit Public Schools Budget: Cuts, Cuts, Cuts This story has been updated. Detroit Public Schools officials released the district's proposed 2012 budget Thursday, a plan rife with cuts and changes. All DPS employees will take a 10 percent salary hit in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2012, and, like public workers throughout Michigan, will be expected to contribute more to their benefits plan. Language about recruiting new teachers stresses hiring from external pools such as Teach for America. Beyond the pay cuts, the district is also eliminating 853 positions, reducing its head count by roughly 8.5 percent. Administrative personnel cuts include 12 principals, 36 assistant principals, 40 guidance counselors, 18 clerical staffers and 43 central office supervisors. According to the district, the cuts are part of a plan to streamline education and reroute 90 percent of funding to the classroom. Mounting debt has crippled Detroit Public Schools, with the district's current deficit reaching $327 million.
Detroit's population loss slows; some suburbs see gains Detroit continues to lose residents, but the population loss appears to be slowing, with about 1% moving out between 2013 and 2014, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. In the tri-county area, the Oakland County suburbs of Lyon and Oakland townships and Sylvan Lake, as well as Macomb and Washington townships in Macomb County grew the fastest, according to the estimates. The census makes the estimates annually based on a review of birth and death records, as well as migration. Demographer Kurt Metzger said Detroit's population loss appears to be easing. "It continues to average about 1% loss per year," said Metzger, now mayor of Pleasant Ridge. By the city's estimates, Detroit lost about 1,000 residents per month in 2013; that slowed to 500 in 2014, and the number is even lower in 2015. "We have seen a significant slowing of people leaving the neighborhoods, and it will continue to improve," Mayor Mike Duggan said.
The Detroit Bankruptcy The Detroit Bankruptcy The City of Detroit’s bankruptcy was driven by a severe decline in revenues (and, importantly, not an increase in obligations to fund pensions). Depopulation and long-term unemployment caused Detroit’s property and income tax revenues to plummet. The state of Michigan exacerbated the problems by slashing revenue it shared with the city. The Shortfall Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, asserts that the city is bankrupt because it has $18 billion in long-term debt. Cash flow crisis. In a corporate bankruptcy, the judge takes stock of a company’s total assets and liabilities because the company can be liquidated and all its assets sold to pay down its debts. This means that Detroit is bankrupt not because of its outstanding debt, but because it is no longer bringing in enough revenue to cover its immediate expenses. Total outstanding debt. Not only is the $18 billion outstanding debt figure irrelevant to Detroit’s bankruptcy, it is also misleading and inflated.