Academic State Champs: Poverty doesn’t always predict school success in Michigan

Across Michigan, school districts face daunting challenges, educating students from families with high poverty and few college degrees. Conventional wisdom says the schools fail.

But groundbreaking new research challenges that belief, showing that –  in many cases –  students in poor districts can learn and progress at the same rate as peers in wealthy districts.

It’s a unique way to measure school effectiveness, and Bridge Magazine is using the work to name its 2018 Academic State Champs. In years past, Bridge lauded schools for over-achieving –  doing better than poverty rates would predict.

Now, champs are honored for how much their students progress from third to eighth grade, using Stanford University’s analysis of more than 500 public school districts in Michigan. The research was part of a national study of millions of students that measured academic performance and a host of socioeconomic data, from income and family structure to income and family education.

Related: See how your Michigan school district compares on academic growth

Related: Interactive chart: See how wealth affects achievement in Michigan schools

“There are many relatively high-poverty school districts where students appear to be learning at a faster rate than kids in other, less poor districts,” said Sean Reardon, a Stanford University researcher who headed the study.

“Poverty clearly does not determine the quality of a school system.”

To be sure, wealthy districts across Michigan tend to have higher test scores than even the most succesful poor districts, in large part because their students start out so far ahead.

But the Stanford research shows that good districts can help accelerate learning, regardless of income. Statewide, students in 40 school districts tested below grade level in third grade but were at or above grade level by eighth, including districts as dissimilar as Athens near Battle Creek and Cheboygan at the tip of the northern Lower Peninsula.

The median income in Athens ($71,000) is nearly twice that of Cheboygan ($37,300). According to Stanford’s research, students in both districts tested below grade level in third grade, but were at (Cheboygan) or above (Athens) grade level by eighth grade.

“We’re in the process of making even bigger gains,” said Troy Reehl, superintendent of Cheboygan schools.

The secret? In recent years, the district has relied on data to identify students who need extra help, and adopted a united approach to instruction rather than have teachers work independently, Reehl said.

Poverty and learning

In Michigan, as elsewhere, poverty has been a reliable predictor of academic success.

Districts with poor students typically test below average, while wealthy districts are almost always above average. That’s because poor kids start out behind, typically testing below grade level at third grade, Reardon said.

Most rankings of schools only look at test scores or "proficiency." What makes Stanford's analysis so interesting is that it measured student growth.

SLIDESHOW: Academic State Champs: Top 10 large Michigan school districts for growth

SLIDESHOW: Academic State Champs: Top 10 mid-sized Michigan school districts for growth

SLIDESHOW: Academic State Champs: Top 10 small Michigan school districts for growth

Statewide, 27 districts in Michigan tested below grade level as third graders but were above it by eighth grade, the research found. And there were four dozen districts where the opposite was true: the third graders were ahead of grade level but had fallen behind by eighth grade.