Road to excellence for troubled Michigan schools begins in Detroit n 13
make their own decisions about hiring, budgets, and
programming, to be phased in based on performance (see
chapter two).
Maintain authorizer responsibility for Detroit public
charter schools, but with more accountability for
results.
Require authorizers (including DPS) to meet the Detroit
Education Commission’s (DEC) citywide performance
standards. Limit expansion of operators to demonstrable
high performers. And require charter authorizers to follow
recommendations from the National Association of
Charter School Authorizers, to increase accountability.
Create a new nonpartisan board/legislative body,
the DEC, to coordinate and rationalize citywide
education functions. Members will be appointed by
the mayor of Detroit.
To ensure that all neighborhoods have quality schools,
the DEC will serve as a gatekeeper for opening,
converting, or closing schools. New schools will be
selected on merit. Among other roles, it will conduct
an annual analysis of demographic trends and school
performance to identify where better schools are needed.
It will annually collect and publish school performance
and financial data. Based on those data, it will decide
whether and where to (1) open a new school; (2) place a
school on a watch list; or (3) close and potentially reopen
a school with different leadership. In addition, the DEC
potentially will oversee the shared citywide services
that help parents take advantage of their choices, such
as transportation, enrollment, special education, and
wraparound services (see chapter four). The commission
will be a lean, non-biased, transparent,
and community-based body that retains only the powers
necessary to create a functioning choice system. It will
also deeply engage the community in planning.
Fully fund the SSRO and State School Recovery
District (SSRD) to take the lead in improving low-
performing schools, and return the EAA schools to
DPS with all deliberate speed.
The inter-local agreement between the DPS emergency
manager and Eastern Michigan University that established
the EAA will be terminated. The SSRO will audit and
assess the schools and responsibly transition those
schools back to DPS using one of the established reform
strategies identified by state law. As provided by law,
schools may be placed in the SSRD if these interventions
are not successful. The SSRO/SSRD will absorb the EAA
central administration to execute its responsibilities.
Although the SSRO and SSRD were legislatively created
in 2010, they were never adequately staffed or funded. It’s
time to scale these bodies and make them work. Priority
schools in Detroit should use turnaround assistance from
successful partner organizations. Assistance from the ISD
should focus on supporting schools to prevent them from
entering priority status.
Require all public schools in Detroit (DPS and
public charters) to create advisory School
Leadership Teams of parents, teachers, staff, the
principal, students (where age-appropriate), and
community members.
Members will be elected by their peers. Half of the teams
will be made up of parents and community members,
who will advise the school principal about the annual
School Improvement Plan, budgets, and other proposals
that impact the school’s community. Going forward, these
advisory teams will become accountable for the School
Improvement Plans.
The DEC must meaningfully engage the community in its
citywide planning. To do so, it will:
1. Organize Regional Councils by City Council district.
These councils will consist of representatives of
School Leadership Teams that fall within that district.
They will conduct hearings and engage in planning
and any opening and closing decisions related to
their districts, and generally inform the DEC on
neighborhood needs, equity trends, and potential
support services for every neighborhood. They will
convene at least twice a year.
2. Hire a public advocate, who will serve as an
ombudsman for Detroit families. As a nonvoting
member of the DEC, the advocate will investigate
complaints and patterns of violations. The advocate
will build community capacity by training School
Leadership Teams and other advocates.
Together, these recommendations create a culture of
shared accountability and responsibility in Detroit. Parents
and community members will have a voice and will be
expected to step up. DPS school leaders will have control
over key decisions in their buildings and be expected
to step up if they want to earn and keep this freedom.
Public charter school authorizers, boards, and education
management organizations will retain their autonomy,
but will be held more accountable for providing a quality
education. The school board will regain its authority
over DPS and, like its charter counterparts, will be held
accountable for the performance of its schools. And
the mayor will be held accountable for ensuring quality
schools in every neighborhood, which is essential for the
city’s overall growth and prosperity.
We talked with experts from across the country. Everybody at the table, even
though we had different opinions and came from different backgrounds, all care
about children, and want to improve education in Detroit.”
Ines de Jesus Southwest Counseling Solutions