The latest list of Michigan's worst-performing schools is due to be released any day now. Under state law, the School Reform Office can close schools that have been mired in the lowest five percent for three straight years. But what of schools that say they've begun to turn things around? Or schools in challenged neighborhoods, whose students started very far behind? What happens to those students if the state shuts down their school?
Erin Einhorn looked at one example of this dilemma in a report for Chalkbeat Detroit. It's a charter school in Detroit called the Michigan Technical Academy and they are asking the state to give them more time.
MTA is located in Northwest Detroit and, according to Einhorn, has been struggling for many years and has been ranked in the bottom 5% for the last three years. Einhorn says the school had a massive organizational overhaul over the last year and has shown signs of improvement. However, even with the improvement, there's a "fairly decent chance" MTA will still end up on the state's chopping block.
Listen to the full interview above to hear why the test scores aren't telling the full story and what may happen to the students if schools are closed.
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