The United Way for Southeastern Michigan plans to transform seven more metro Detroit high schools into a series of new and smaller schools using a charitable gift of $27.1 million from the General Motors Foundation.
The money also will pay for seven early learning community centers near the high schools where parents can learn to prepare their small children for kindergarten.
The gift will be used to help restructure so-called dropout factories by creating several new and smaller schools within each building. The program is designed to create smaller student bodies, allowing teachers to give more individual attention, the concept’s supporters say.
GM decided to support the program based on its success at five metro Detroit schools where it’s already in place.
This initiative started in 2008. The United Way for Southeastern Michigan, along with the Skillman Foundation and AT&T, created a special fund to help pay for turnaround consultants to come to the region and work with Cody and Osborn high schools in Detroit, Melvindale High, Pontiac High and Lincoln High in Warren.
The schools are now divided into smaller academies with specific focus areas, such as math, science or health-based curriculums. Each small school began with about 100 freshmen and will add a grade level each year. The maximum size for each school will be about 450 students.
With a class-size target of 20-25, students receive more personalized instruction, said Michael Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
Chronic absences were reduced by 25% in the first year, one indicator that that the schools are on track to increase graduation rates, Brennan said.
“When you really look at the research that looks at academic success, it is based on the quality of the teacher-student relationship,” he said. “The turnaround process allows us to improve the environment and increase that relationship.”
Read more at the Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/article/201104070300/NEWS01/104070489
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