Graduation Rates - Cass / Crockett / Renaissance

Based on information provided by the Detroit News, here are the graduation rates for three of the top performing DPS high schools:

Detroit Crockett High School 95.6%
Detroit Renaissance High School 95.5%
Detroit Cass Technical High School 94.31%

In terms of graduation rates they performed very well – in fact, they outperformed the majority of the county’s suburban [[public) high schools. Is there an opportunity to replicate their success at the other Detroit high schools? Granted, these three schools have some advantages over the other schools [[e.g. better facilities, open district), but is there more to the story? What else makes these schools different from the other large Detroit high schools? Are the differences too overwhelming, or is there a real opportunity for DPS to learn from Cass/Crockett/Renaissance?

Disclaimer -- I realize that graduation rate [[%) doesn’t necessarily mean that a school is successful – got it. Crawl – Walk – Run.

Graduation Database from the News:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...|img|FRONTPAGE

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Originally Posted by AGinthe313

Based on information provided by the Detroit News, here are the graduation rates for three of the top performing DPS high schools:

Detroit Crockett High School 95.6%
Detroit Renaissance High School 95.5%
Detroit Cass Technical High School 94.31%

In terms of graduation rates they performed very well – in fact, they outperformed the majority of the county’s suburban [[public) high schools. Is there an opportunity to replicate their success at the other Detroit high schools? Granted, these three schools have some advantages over the other schools [[e.g. better facilities, open district), but is there more to the story? What else makes these schools different from the other large Detroit high schools? Are the differences too overwhelming, or is there a real opportunity for DPS to learn from Cass/Crockett/Renaissance?

Disclaimer -- I realize that graduation rate [[%) doesn’t necessarily mean that a school is successful – got it. Crawl – Walk – Run.

Graduation Database from the News:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...|img|FRONTPAGE

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Damn good news.

No.

Cass and Renaissance are Magnet schools and only accept the best of the best students in Detroit.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

No.

Cass and Renaissance are Magnet schools and only accept the best of the best students in Detroit.

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Oh.............

Cass and Renaissance have enrollment requirements that include a minimum grade point average as well as a record of satisfactory attendance. Most [[if not all) other Detroit public schools must accept any and every student who applies.

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Originally Posted by DetroitFats

Cass and Renaissance have enrollment requirements that include a minimum grade point average as well as a record of satisfactory attendance. Most [[if not all) other Detroit public schools must accept any and every student who applies.

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What about Crockett?

I'm pretty sure Crockett is a magnet school too.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

I'm pretty sure Crockett is a magnet school too.

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So it sounds like it has more to do with the academic caliber of the incoming student, rather than specific programs and policies of the schools. Makes sense.

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Originally Posted by AGinthe313

So it sounds like it has more to do with the academic caliber of the incoming student, rather than specific programs and policies of the schools. Makes sense.

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Yep.

And that correlates with the type of guidance they have in their life.

There's not much schools to do to fix misguided kids.

For Cass and Renaissance you have to take a test to get in. And yes, they are not going to take in every student. Your past grades, as well as your scores on this test will get you in. And no, it's not impossible, but having a solid academic record from 5th-8th grade was a necessity.

I didn't know a lick of English when I arrived in Detroit, but I managed to get in after 1 year in a ESL class at Houghton Elementary in Houghton out in Redford, followed by Duffield and Bates Academy. we still had pretty decent public schools back then. That all changed by the mid to late 80s.

In some cases, who you know may get you in as well. Saw that at both Bates and Cass.

Can't forget Christo Rey HS [[was Holy Redeemer), the students there have to work to pay to go there and has a goal of 100 percent of the students going to college. http://www.detroitcristorey.org/collegebound

Great to hear about successes in DPS. Keep up the good work.

It's great that these magnet schools exist for the college-bound students, but I'd like to see the public and charter school systems do more for the kids who don't want to go to college or who don't have a head for academics. These kids need to learn marketable skills and the schools don't seem to be doing this for them.

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Originally Posted by JenniferL

It's great that these magnet schools exist for the college-bound students, but I'd like to see the public and charter school systems do more for the kids who don't want to go to college or who don't have a head for academics. These kids need to learn marketable skills and the schools don't seem to be doing this for them.

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Question: Years back, Focus Hope had a training center where 12th St. & Oakman meet. I visited the facilities a few times. Very impressive. I thought they were such a vocational school. Does anyone know if they're still around and still doing training?

To answer your question Honky Tonk and JenniferL, I recently ran across an article regarding DPS' Vo-Tech Centers that you both might be interested in reading.

Do note, EAA students can't attend DPS Vo-Tech Centers, even if they did when they were still DPS students.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2013302110088

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Originally Posted by 313WX

To answer your question Honky Tonk and JenniferL, I recently ran across an article regarding DPS' Vo-Tech Centers that you both might be interested in reading.

Do note, EAA students can't attend DPS Vo-Tech Centers, even if they did when they were still DPS students.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2013302110088

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Thanx for the link. Good article. I thought Snyder, [[I really don't "hate" him), stated not too long ago that he was in favor of more vocational schools as opposed to kids attending colleges? I think closing these schools is a mistake. Maybe bus in suburban students with issues to these facilities?

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Originally Posted by AGinthe313

So it sounds like it has more to do with the academic caliber of the incoming student, rather than specific programs and policies of the schools. Makes sense.

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Bingo.

Same as UofM is a magnet school for football players.

I'd like to see a couple incoming UofM FB classes play for EMU and vice versa and I'd guess UofM FB would decline significantly and EMU's would incline significantly without Brady Hoke and Ron English doing anything more than what they do now. ;)

We see parity in the NFL [[there is no dynasty ala the NHL Montreal Canadians of the mid-20th century which had a self-selection monopoly - most kids in Quebec grew up Montreal fans) because of the NFL draft which negatives self-selection.

This kind of self-selection process exists in most spheres of society be it education, housing, employment, etc.

Back to education, but not DPS, Northern Virginia has a magnet school, Thomas Jefferson, a science and tech powerhouse maybe the best [[or one of the top half dozen) public schools in the nation. I believe its median SAT is around 1,450 out of 1,600. Harvard turns down kids from TJ not because of qualifications but because they don't want to take too many from a single school.

Yes it too is a magnet school and it gets to draws from most of Northern Virgina which is an affluent, well educated area.

To show what can happen when a school gets to 'cherry pick' its students from an excellent pool and has the financial resources [[and teachers!!) to achieve greatness:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...and_Technology

TJ has a supercomputer lab and is building [[or has built) a SATELLITE to be launched into space - first by a high school.

It seems more like undergraduate college than high school.

I just read somewhere [[or maybe my mom told me she read it) that the demand is no longer for college degrees, per se. Demand is high for skilled trades such as plumbing, auto mechanics, heating/cooling, welding, etc. I can see that...I pay my plumber and auto mechanic a pretty penny just to Dx the issue, let alone the money I shell out to actually have it fixed. I really wish they'd bring back the Vo-tech centers[[or even bring it back into the regular high schools) and offer it to more kids. I have students who I know won't fare well in college and really don't want to go. They would much rather forego all the academics and just focus on skilled trades. I point them in the direction of HFCC. They have great programs without all of the English, History, and academics involved. Yeah, you heard that coming from me. I just want my kids to be successful and whatever that takes, I am all for it.

I am really glad Diana Ross studied fashion design at Cass Tech. We got to enjoy her fine talents as a foremost designer because of it. :cool:

I hear you DT. Randolph, Golightly, Davis Aerospace and Breithaupt career technical centers struggle to survive since the EAA [[Education Acheivement Authority) takeover of high schools such as Southeastern, Mumford etc.

These schools no longer allow their students the option to attend the career tech centers, thus enrollment has dropped significantly:

Programs in jeopardy at 5 Detroit Public Schools vocational centers

http://www.freep.com/article/2013021...tional-centers

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Originally Posted by DetroitTeacher

....I really wish they'd bring back the Vo-tech centers[[or even bring it back into the regular high schools) and offer it to more kids.

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These schools all have minimum GPAs and minimum attendance requirements in order to remain as students.

So the graduation rate, IMO, is a poor proxy for assessing performance. They will have strong graduation rates, by default. It's highly unlikely you will have good grades and attendance and then decide to not graduate.

I mean, let's pretend these schools were horrible [[they're certainly not). They would still have roughly the same graduation rates, since all the "bad kids" wouldn't be counted in the denominator [[they would have all been kicked out beforehand).

I always thought DPS missed an golden opportunity to change the perception that people have of the district. When the CTC’s [[career technical centers ) were first created they had millions of dollars of state of the art equipment and teachers who had been in the industry doing the teaching. You could tell that students wanted to be at the centers. In areas such as culinary arts a few highly regarded chefs are alumni of either Golightly or Breithaupt. I also see however students in cosmetology while able to do hair really well can’t pass the state certifying test.
I felt that DPS never marketed those centers properly either inside or outside the district. The CTC’s was one of the few jewels of the district that could attract students from outside the district to use DPS. Mr. Bobb only paid lip service to the centers and I fear Mr. Roberts is going to do the same thing. After all he is on the board of the EAA and he could speak out on the disconnect between the EAA and DPS when it comes to the CTC's.

Cass and Renaissance are fine schools and bear little resemblance to the dropout factories found in too many DPS buildings. Strong graduation rates present relatively little of the education picture at those schools though. Achievement is better measured through GPA's received in core courses, and yes, in part through standardized test scores. ACT scores at Cass and Renaissance are light years ahead of the rest of DPS and Detroit charters, which is great given the challenges many of these students face at home. Yet, these scores at Cass and Renaissance are only at the 50th percentile statewide.

Detroit CMA [[Communication and Media Arts) also falls into the same category. The last number [[unofficial) I saw for them a couple of years ago was a 97% graduation rate. CMA is in the same building that was St. Marys of Redford HS, which closed in 1992. I will say, in my opinion, it's not just a matter of schools getting to 'choose' the best students. It's also a case of the parents who most care about their kids' education wanting them to get into those schools. If a kids parents [[or parent in many situations) doesn't care much about the kid's performance in school, odds are they will not be going to one of those schools, even if the kid is very intelligent.