Detroit schools: There is good news

As the Research Department continues to analyze the recently released Graduation/Dropout data from the State of Michigan (a report will appear on the web next week), I wanted to tell you the good news about Detroit schools.

A total of 32 high schools (out of 204) in the tri-county area (graduating at least 20 children) achieved an on-time graduation rate of 95 percent or better. The City of Detroit School District accounted for 6 of these schools, two of which - Renaissance and Cass - placed in the Top 7 in the region. The other districts with multiple entries were Bloomfield Hills (3), Grosse Pointe (2), Rochester (2), Troy (2), and Utica (3).

Detroit is also well represented on the other end of the graduation spectrum - those with graduation rates below 60 percent. While a significant number of the schools with the lowest graduation rates were Alternative Education institutions, and thus not necessarily relevant to our high school initiative, the Detroit Public School District did have a number of entrants. Among the "regular" public high schools in Detroit that had graduation rates below 60 percent were:

• Northern High School 56.9%
• Detroit City High School 56.4%
• Mackenzie High School 56.3%
• Southwestern High School 56.0%
• Central High School 55.9%
• Finney High School 53.5%
• Chadsey High School 52.0%
• Redford High School 48.0%

A final report, including results for all tri-county high schools, along with additional data will be forthcoming.

Kurt Metzger
Research Director, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
kurt.metzger@LiveUnitedSEM.org