Dundee schools receive report card from state
Dundee Community Schools were issued report cards by the state of Michigan for the first time ever on Friday, Jan. 30. The report cards reflect both the state’s “Michigan YES” and the federal government’s “No Child Left Behind” guidelines.

How these grades were determined is explained in the article which begins on page 7A, and it is helpful to read that article.

Dundee Community Schools’ curriculum director, Rick Schaffner said the results for the local district were both good and bad.

“It doesn’t give a completely accurate picture,” said Mr. Schaffner. “There is so much data, that errors get made. We didn’t have as many as some schools. I feel that the [MEAP] test scores for us were accurate.”

Here’s how Dundee’s schools fared on their report cards. Each of the three schools achieved Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) as determined by the federal government guidelines.
Dundee Elementary received a composite grade of B. Individual grades were as follows.

• Student Achievement Status: B
• Student Achievement Change: A
• Indicators of School Performance: C
Dundee Middle School received a composite grade of C. Individual grades were as follows.
• Student Achievement Status: C
• Student Achievement Change: C
• Indicators of School Performance: B
Dundee High School received a composite grade of C. Individual grades were as follows.
• Student Achievement Status: B
• Student Achievement Change: F
• Indicators of School Performance: C

“We did not deserve an F,” said Tom Williams, assistant principal at DundeeHigh School. “We are ahead of the state and county average in our MEAP scores. But how do you tell a parent who equates it with F in math, that we have mastered the subject? We just failed to improve on our good scores. That’s not fair.”

Then Mr. Williams joked, “If we had known, a couple of years ago, we would have told the students not to try so hard on the MEAP.” He continued, “It’s the slope concept. How do you explain that? It’s a shame because some very good schools got slapped. Other schools that aren’t so good got A’s and B’s.”

He’s also not so pleased with the “Indicators of School Performance” grade, but said Dundee graded itself the right way.

“We were dead honest,” said Mr. Williams. “In every place we needed to do something, we have fixed it. For example, three or four years ago we had a group of fourth graders who didn’t test well. So, we started a lot of reading programs, and that has had an impact. Our scores went from low to high. Every chance we have to improve, we do it.”

He said parents shouldn’t take the state report cards too much to heart.

“This was the state’s first try. There’s a chance they’ll change somethings next year, like the student achievement change, if it’s around next year.”

The curriculum director said a person would have to be a statistics major to understand the Student Achievement Change scoring system.

“The problem is we came up science and social studies, but it depends on the slope,” said Mr. Schaffner.

He also has a problem with the ultimate goal of that category, which is to have 100% of the students deemed proficient in the subjects by 2014.

“That’s a major joke in education,” said Mr. Schaffner. “It puts a little pressure on the schools to do more, but all students will not be equal by 2014.”

He continued, “The irony is that we got a B in Student Achievement Status, and are above the state average. It’s frustrating. Our District School Improvement Team will meet February 24 and we’ll have a goal setting session and decipher it.”

He also set a public meeting for Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria for those interested in discussing and learning more about the district’s report cards.

“To me, our goal should be that we are continually improving, and our scores are continually going up,” said Mr. Schaffner. “If I were a parent, I would not worry that this is not a good district or anything like that.”

Mr. Schaffner added, “A ‘C’ is not a reason to panic. Most schools were in the C-B range. As a district we’re not going to be content until we get A’s anyway. We saw these grades at Christmastime, and we have already implemented some things. We want to do better. We don’t want to be a C school. We’re going to keep working at it.

“It’s just a reality and we have to deal with it,” said Mr. Schaffner.