The majority of Michigan schools that failed to meet annual state standards on the MEAP test are located in urban areas around the state, according an MSU study released Thursday.
MSU's Education Policy Center conducted the study by analyzing a list of 216 priority schools issued by the state in April. A priority school is one that fails to meet the Michigan Educational Assessment Program's test, or MEAP, standards.
A majority of the schools, 85 percent, are located in urban centers and 107 schools - about half of the school's on the list - are located in the Detroit School District.
"We have known that these schools are in trouble for a longtime," said David Plank, co-director of the Education Policy Center and an education professor. "But because of the No Child Left Behind (Act), Michigan has to do something about it. This is no longer Detroit's or Flint's problem - it's Michigan's."
The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President Bush in January 2001, requires schools to have adequate yearly progress in reading and math achievement, determined by the state board of education. If goals are not met, schools might be sanctioned in a variety of ways.
The MEAP test is given in fourth, fifth, seventh and 11th grades and is designed to test abilities in the areas of social studies, mathematics, science and English. The MSU study only included elementary and middle schools.
The majority of the students from the 216 troubled schools are poor and nine out of 10 students from these schools are minorities.
T.J. Bucholz, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education, said every student from every school in the state is expected to pass MEAP requirements with 100 percent proficiency by 2014.
"The No Child Left Behind Act is the most far reaching change in education," Bucholz said. "The law is literally 1,200 pages long and will define education for the next 30 years."
Bucholz said there are four levels that determine how a student scores on the assessment test - below basic, basic, advanced and proficient. Michigan's standards for proficiency are 47 percent in math and 38 percent in reading. These standards will rise incrementally until reaching 100 percent by 2014, Bucholz said.
He added each school is measured by the annual yearly progress report, and if a school fails to meet its goals, there might be repercussions, such as altering school boards. In a severe case, if a school fails to meet its proficiency goals for two years in a row, parents of children from failing schools have the option of transferring their child to a passing school within the same district. The failing schools must pay transportation costs for the student.
Kwanghyun Lee, a graduate student and co-author of the study, says he doesn't fully agree with punishing schools that do not meet testing standards.
"The step we need to focus on is providing more help to priority schools," Lee said. "These schools shouldn't be punished, they should he helped."
Plank said the No Child Left Behind law will affect some of Michigan's best schools.
"The problem is that nobody is 100 percent successful, 100 percent of the times," Plank said. "If a few kids blow off the test, percentages go down. Virtually every school in Michigan will find themselves on the priority list."
Even if schools meet their proficiency goals, they will be put on the list if proficiency percentages drop two years in a row.
Plank added while some opponents of the federal law think the majority of students' education will consist of them learning how to take the MEAP test, he said that might not be a bad thing.
"The schools on the list have not even been providing their students with minimum skills," Plank said. "Getting them to focus on the test at least insures them that the kids have minimum skills."
