The Thomas B. Fordham Institute recently released a report that focuses on a number of school
reform districts across the nation, including the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan
Redefining the School District in America offers a status update of EAA’s progress since it
experienced a change in leadership with the appointment of Veronica Conforme as Chancellor in 2014.
Below are some key highlights:
The Authority is still walking on eggshells politically, but vigorous and
candid new leadership is giving it a chance at success.
While keeping a generally low profile during her early months in
office, Conforme set about recruiting new talent for the central office and took steps to
counter the perception of loose financial and ethical standards. This was
accomplished by tightening up the rules on use of EAA credit cards and
setting up an ethics hotline where staff and community members can report
“improper contractor activity, conflict of interest, and EEOC or ADA
matters.
On one critical measure of operational performance, Conforme was able to
report in October that actual enrollment for the current school year would
total approximately 6,500 students, slightly exceeding the EAA’s budget
projection and stemming the precipitous drop that followed year one.
The tempo and depth of change picked up quickly after Conforme was named
chancellor in November.
In an interview, Conforme said “everything is on the table” in terms of
school management; her main concern is getting talented leadership. That
could be done directly through hiring and developing school principals
(she’s already replaced three) or via charter contracts that would bring in
top-caliber talent through another door…When the decisions are made, the
EAA will consider both academic outcomes (not just test scores, but also
graduation rates and other measures) as well as leadership and school
climate. Conforme said of the twelve direct-run schools, “They are making
progress, but not fast enough, and we need to consider making changes that
will accelerate the rate of student achievement.”
That comment is telling. *Recently Conforme has repeatedly expressed, in
blunt terms, her impatience with the pace of improvement in EAA schools.
This is a sea change in the Authority’s public disposition.* When
confronted with stagnant or declining scores on the MEAP, Michigan’s state
test, her predecessor would cite internal Performance Series assessments,
which did show some growth—an average of 1.1 years of gain in Covington’s
final school year. But Conforme simply says that the rate of improvement is
unacceptable, period. Despite “some clear successes” and visible
improvements in safety and learning environments, “student achievement has
not improved at a fast enough pace.”
The EAA is developing a new suite of accountability measures, including a
quantitative performance framework and a new School Quality Review, and
creating new support networks to serve schools from a streamlined central
office. The central office team is currently reviewing the Authority’s
entire assessment program and will soon disclose which instruments will
stay or go, but Conforme is emphatic that administrators and principals
have to consider proficiency and not just growth. Interim tests can’t serve
as the only benchmark: “You have to have both!”
On February 17, 2015, the chancellor announced sweeping new policies that
will give all EAA schools, charter and state-run, additional autonomy over
programs, resources, and professional development. Rather than following a
single, centrally designed and mandated school model, building leaders will
be able to chart their own path toward the Authority’s outcome standards…
EAA’s Achievement Leaders Academy, through a partnership with the nonprofit
TNTP, will provide training for school leaders who will take the reins of
EAA schools in the 2015–16 school year (and longer-term, to “create a
pipeline of skilled candidates to run Detroit’s schools for years to come”).
A roughly 25 percent drop in enrollment after the EAA’s first year drew
headlines. Little noticed was that it followed historic trends for the
schools taken over: Between 2007–08 and 2013–14, enrollment at EAA schools
declined by an average of 13 percent per year. Enrollment stabilized
between the 2013–14 school year and the current one, according to
preliminary numbers. And while all fifteen EAA schools saw enrollment
decline between 2012–13 and 2013–14, six schools saw enrollment increases
between 2013–14 and 2014–15.
Though academic turnarounds take time, efforts to create a healthier
school climate seem to be paying off. According to surveys conducted by
the nonprofit Excellent Schools Detroit, the percentage of students who
reported feeling mostly or very safe in their classrooms increased from 56
percent to 64 percent between 2012–13 and 2013–14.
There’s more encouraging news on the graduation front. Graduation rates
across the EAA’s six high schools took a serious dip in the first year
after takeover, dropping from a four-year average of 64 percent in 2011–12
to 54 percent in 2012–13, its first full year overseeing the schools. But
there was significant recovery in the EAA’s second year, with the four-year
rate moving back up to 62 percent in 2013–14.
In April, State Superintendent Mike Flanagan announced that two EAA schools
(direct-run Brenda Scott Academy for Theatre Arts, and Trix Elementary, a
charter school) would be among twenty-seven schools removed from the
state’s roster of Priority schools in the bottom 5 percent
For now, EAA’s attention seems focused tightly on getting the ship moving
ahead toward demonstrably higher achievement.*
