I have been trying to digest all of the ideas that our new governor has when it comes to improving the educational system here in Michigan. There are many trying to make sense of his plan, trying to help others see the merits of his plan, and others trying to help the public understand what is wrong with his plan. I watched him on FlashPoint today, and my goodness but he sounds calm and reasonable! I can see why many believe him to be a visionary and on the right track to improve our "broken system." I have some information that I believe is important for the public to know. We keep hearing that only 16% of our students are ready for college, and that this is based on the ACT scores of Michigan's 11th graders. The ACT is given as part of the Michigan Merit Exam and all juniors in Michigan high schools must take it. It used to be that only those students who intended to go directly from high school to a four-year college took the ACT exam, obviously these students were motivated to do their very best as their score would play a major role in getting into their college of choice. Many students would take the exam more than once in the hopes of achieving a higher score on subsequent tries. Today the only students exempt from taking the ACT are a percentage of students with cognitive impairments and some of the students with autism. Students with severe learning disabilities take it, as well as students who are limited in English proficiency. Medically fragile students who miss many days of instruction must take it as well as students who are not present for instruction daily for other reasons. My point is that using this one score as the basis for determining how many Michigan students are ready for college upon graduation is unfair and very misleading. As in the past, those students very motivated and planning to attend a four-year college immediately after graduation, take the ACT more than once, however, how they score on subsequent tries will not be included in the state's data. Now, I hear some of you, probably the Gov being one, saying "Well why aren't all Michigan eleventh graders planning to go to a four-year college immediately after graduation?" Many can't afford it or don't know what they want to do so they plan to attend a community college first, and personally I think this should be encouraged. This brings me to the next comment we keep hearing that needs to be addressed. Governor Snyder wants it known that too many of Michigan's graduates need to take remedial courses at community colleges after graduating from high school. This is a sad fact. Today we have the Michigan Merit Curriculum, it is "rigorous" and it is the only curriculum available to those wanting a high school diploma. While this sounds good and right, what it means is that too many students are sitting in Michigan high school classrooms receiving instruction that is meaningless to them, they can't access it and we can't remediate them, or their career needs require a vocational track that is being squeezed out. When we are compared to other countries you need to know that not ALL of the students in the country attend the high schools designed to produce college ready students. Most countries separate and offer different educational options to students after middle school. We do not do that, we offer a FREE education to ALL of our children. Are there areas of the public school system that needs reform? Yes, of course there are, change needs to be a regular and anticipated fact because we are evolving, but let's be careful when we look to see where the problems really lie, and then let's be careful what we wish for.
Rosemary
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