By Judy Seifert (Contact / Staff Bio)
September 26, 2009 - 11:23 a.m. EST

TUSCOLA COUNTY – According to the State of Michigan’s top educator, this year’s report cards for Michigan public schools show some significant improvement.

Mike Flanagan, state superintendent of public instruction, said that this year’s report reflects increases on many levels for schools - particularly in the areas of math and writing.

“We find the increases very encouraging,” Flanagan said. “It’s clear that our students are improving.”

In Tuscola County, nine K-12 school districts made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), according to the Michigan Department of Education. But a few individual high schools within each district did not.

Those not receiving a passing score at their high schools were Akron-Fairgrove, Caro, Cass City, Kingston and Unionville-Sebewaing.

To make AYP, the school must attain the targeted achievement goals defined by federal law or at least reduce by 10 percent the number of students in the school’s non-proficient category. It must test 95 percent of its students in English language arts and math.

In Michigan, the percentage of school making AYP rose 6 percent in 2009 from 80 percent to 86 percent, with high schools making the largest gain in percentage points.

According to Flanagan, the number of schools receiving an A grade under Michigan’s current accreditation system Education YES also increased 5.2 percent from 1,526 to 1,680.

At Akon-Fairgrove, students exceeded state averages in third grade math, fourth grade reading and math, and 7th grade math. In the remaining 18 categories, they were below state wide levels.

In Caro, students surpassed state averages in 18 categories in the areas of science, math and writing.

“Education Yes is an assessment that helps us improve,” said Caro Superintendent Neil Beckwith. “I’m excited about the improvements our district has made.”

Cass City students were well over state levels in 20 categories, making great strides in 8th grade math, 7th grade writing and math, fifth grade math, sixth grade social studies, reading and writing, and in fourth grade reading, writing and math.

Kingston students exceeded state levels in 14 areas in Mayville, the schools scores passed state levels in three categories, tying in one.

Mayville Superintendent William Hartzel said in a statement, “all three buildings at Mayville Community Schools have received notice from the Michigan Department of Education that they have achieved AYP for the 2008-2009 school year. All three buildings earned a B on the State Report Card and the District's grade was B also. The results are a reflection of the effort of our staff and students.”

Students in Millington improved in 11 categories, Reese 19 and Vassar 11.

“We have experienced a decline at the high school due to the change in curriculum moving to the Michigan Merit curriculum,” said Lawrence Kroswek, superintendent of Millington Schools. “More students have taken the ACT, which is a college readiness test, without the curriculum fully in place to prepare them for the rigors of the assessment.”

According to Kroswek, testing began in 2007 and the curriculum was implemented in 2008. He hopes to see a difference this year. He also said that growth in the elementary schools in 2007 is now appearing in the junior high areas of math, science and English/language arts.

“Vassar has put a lot of initiatives in place in order to improve,” said Superintendent Thomas Palmer. “Our goal is to eventually lead the county and everyone is working hard to achieve that goal.”

AYP is a requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind program.

“The results show progress, but we know we have a lot more work to do to prepare all of our students for college and the workplace,” said Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Report card summaries, MEAP scores and AYP scores are available online at www.mde.gov.