Michigan Drop-Out Summit

Summit shows push to keep Michigan kids in school

Programs see success with fresh approaches

BY LORI HIGGINS • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • October 18, 2008

For a couple of hundred students in Michigan each year, the only path to a diploma runs through a residential military-style school in Battle Creek run by the Michigan National Guard.

For dozens in Westwood Community Schools in Dearborn Heights, the key to graduating last year was an alternative program that let them make up lost credits in exchange for signing pledges that they would get the work done.

These turnarounds don't happen enough in a state where more than 20,000 students -- enough to fill 20 average-size high schools -- abandon their education every year.

Some critics say too little attention had been paid to the crisis. But schools have become more aggressive than ever in finding solutions, and one of the largest efforts to address it culminates in a summit Monday in Lansing, where more than 500 people are to share ideas on keeping kids in school.

The summit builds on the findings of 11 hearings held over the past six months. Organizers of those hearings -- including the Michigan Education Association, Michigan's Children and Michigan's Charter Schools -- found common themes in the testimony: Adults need to build better relationships with teens; schools must intervene before kids reach high school; schools need a variety of approaches to helping kids, and community groups must be more involved.

The conversations about the crisis couldn't be happening at a more important time. Michigan is suffering economically and counting on public schools to produce graduates who will be ready to take on the jobs of the future.

"The schools that should be addressing this issue seriously are not," said Sharif Shakrani, codirector of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University. "And the schools that do not have a problem with graduation rates and dropout rates are paying more attention."

James Heffelbower, 17, a senior at Belleville High School, could have been one of the statistics. He failed nearly every class he took as a high school freshman. But the adults in his life believed in his potential, enough to keep him from spiraling toward life as a dropout.

"Without that motivation, I wouldn't be where I am," said James, who now expects to graduate on time.

"Kids need positive role models. They need to feel worthwhile and that they are cared about," said Erin Radtka, a guidance counselor at Belleville High whom James credits with getting him on track academically and helping him find a stable home after bouncing through the foster care system.


Students held accountable


In just about every hearing held in advance of Monday's summit, organizers heard from previously frustrated parents who had nearly given up on their teens until they heard about the Michigan Youth Challenge Academy.

Since 1999, the program in Battle Creek has succeeded by using a strict military-type approach in which students wear uniforms, take a demanding course load and receive a heavy dose of discipline, structure and routine -- things sorely lacking in many of their lives.

Vicki Lashuay of Ash Township in Monroe County was a frustrated parent. After her daughter found success in the program, she made it her mission to educate other parents about the option.

"The kids we have now ... they need a chance. One less dropout is one less person that will turn to crime," Lashuay said.

The academy, one of 30 operating nationwide, puts youths ages 16 to 19 through a 22-week residential program during which they earn 4.5 academic credits and some college credit. Some of the students leave the program and return to their traditional high schools. Most receive general equivalency diplomas.

The academy monitors the students for a year after they graduate from the program, and the statistics show that after that year, nine out of 10 are either working, in school or in the military.

Retired Army Col. John Wemlinger, commandant of cadets, said the program works for two reasons: Students volunteer to enroll, and it's so disciplined.

"Our students are held to a strict standard of accountability," Wemlinger said.


Fund hoped to boost graduation


One of the more ambitious plans to turn around metro Detroit schools with low graduation rates is to gain momentum this month when up to a half dozen schools are selected to receive planning grants from the Greater Detroit Venture Fund.

The months-old campaign, created by the United Way of Southeast Michigan, the Skillman Foundation and AT&T, aims to raise $10 million a year to fund the improvement of low-performing schools during a 5-year period, said Michael Tenbusch, vice president of educational preparedness at the United Way. The plans would be focused on improving graduation rates from 60% and below to at least 80%.

The money would help the schools hire a so-called turnaround specialist -- an organization with a successful track record -- to help transform the schools. And while the selected schools can choose any method to make the transformation, the goal is for them to break into smaller chunks to create a more personalized environment, Tenbusch said. Students who feel connected, experts say, are more likely to stay in school.

Van Dyke Public Schools in Warren is banking on those kinds of connections. The district's Lincoln High School officially has a 71% graduation rate but is one of 30 in metro Detroit eligible for the Venture Fund grant based on a Johns Hopkins study last year that put its graduation rate at 39%. The district applied for the grant, went through an interview process earlier this month and is now awaiting an announcement.

The goal, said Donn Tignanelli, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, is to create smaller environments at Lincoln.

"We know that we have some challenges. And we want to tackle them firsthand," Tignanelli said.


Flexible schooling gets attention


There is evidence that new twists on traditional alternative programs can work. A relatively new effort in Westwood Community Schools, for example, has succeeded primarily on the strength of agreements signed by students and their parents that say the kids promise to come to class, complete their work and follow the rules.

It operates similar to most alternative programs, yet in its first year, it graduated 37 students who had been far behind in credits and not expected to get a diploma.

The district contracted with a national organization, Educational Services of America, to run the program. It is computer-based, with students working independently with assistance from teachers. Students are required to be in school for four hours and 15 minutes daily, though the times are flexible, with the school open as early as 7 a.m. and as late as 8:30 p.m.

"These are kids who ... would have been out on the streets," Westwood Superintendent Ernie Minghine said. "Now I have 37 people who are going to be members of this community and will be outstanding individuals."

The results have officials with the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency, the intermediate school district that serves Wayne County, looking for ways to replicate it county-wide. The program had a waiting list going into the beginning of this school year.

Minghine said the program is working in ways other attempts to provide alternative programs have not. Key to the success, he said, is the buy-in it gets from both students and parents.


Rigorous requirements criticized


But even with the renewed efforts, there is still concern that students grappling with the state's tough new graduation requirements will make the dropout crisis more acute.

Nicole Laubert feared her son, a sophomore at Dakota High School in Macomb Township, was on track to drop out. He had excelled through elementary and middle school, but as a freshman he was among the first students to face the new mandates, which include a heavier dose of more rigorous math courses.

Laubert's son struggled in algebra, eventually failed and was forced to retake a portion of the class in summer school. Math had never been a strong subject for him, and the additional time spent on algebra hurt his other classes.

"He was just losing interest. He didn't want to do anything," said Laubert of St. Clair Shores.

Laubert, who hired private tutors and bought supplemental materials to help her son, said the best way to prevent dropouts is for the state to rethink what she considers to be unrealistic requirements for students. Barring that, she said, schools must provide more tutoring for students like her son during and after the school day.

James, the 17-year-old from Belleville High, has had every reason to give up over the years. A foster child since age 5, he has lived in more than a dozen homes and attributes his freshman struggles to having been removed from a home he wanted to be in just weeks before the beginning of the school year.

Just about every time James moved, he'd find himself in a new school. The transitions were always difficult, and each time it got a little easier to want to give up, he said.

Support from adults has been crucial.

Radtka, the school counselor, worked hard to find a home that would help James stay in the district because she feared what would happen if he had to leave the high school.

"I was adamant ... that he not have to move again," she said.

She also helped him get connected with a national program that would allow him to take classes online to rebuild the credit he had lost. But it wasn't just her. James said all of his teachers have reached out in ways that he hopes other students experience.

"They saw me as an individual, not just 'Oh, he's just one of my students.' They saw me as James."

James is planning to go to college and is considering a career as a teacher or social worker.

"I would be passionate about my job. I would remember how tough it was for me and remember that other kids go through the same thing. I would definitely do everything in my power to help them succeed."

Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or lhiggins@freepress.com.