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How Much Does Money Matter?

A Lack of Quality in Detroit Public Schools

Detroit  Public  Schools  have  had  a  great  deal  of  issues  within  the  recent  years.  The  academic  achievement  of  the  students  within  the  Detroit  Public  School  system  in  the  past  years  have  become  incredibly  below  par.  In  2009,  the  results  of  the  National  Assessment  of  Educational  Progress  for  Detroit  was  astounding,  “there  is  no  jurisdiction  of  any  kind,  at  any  level,  at  any  time  in  the  30-­‐year  history  of  NAEP  that  has  ever  registered  such  low  numbers”  says  the  executive  director  of  the  Council  on  Great  City  Schools.      

The  Detroit  Public  Schools  MME  scores  are  drastically  lower  than  those  of  other  schools  within  Wayne  County.  With  most  of  the  schools  reporting  a  combined  MME  score  of  lower  than  70,  it  is  clear  that  these  schools  are  lagging  behind;  whereas  West  Bloomfield  High  School  reports  a  combined  score  of  142,  Lahser  High  School  in  Bloomfield  Hills  reports  155  as  a  combined  score,  and  Andover  High  School  reports  a  combined  score  of  160  (NCES,  2011).    The  differences  in  these  schools  are  also  shown  in  NAEP  achievement  scores.  In  testing  8th  graders,  77%  of  students  in  Detroit  tested  below  basic  skills,  whereas  in  the  rest  of  Michigan  32%  of  students  tested  under  below  basic  skills.  Also  while  24%  of  students  in  Michigan  scored  at  the  proficient  level,  only  4%  of  Detroit  students  scored  at  the  proficient  level  (Beene,  2009).  The  differences  in  education  level  between  Detroit  Public  Schools  and  other  Michigan  schools,  especially  those  within  Wayne  County  are  apparent  and  shown  throughout  these  test  scores.  Although  these  schools  are  given  the  same  amount  of  resources,  there  is  a  flaw  in  the  system  that  needs  to  be  worked  out,  because  it  is  clear  that  the  DPS  is  inadequate  in  comparison  to  national  and  state  standards.  Should  there  be  more  resources  given  to  schools  in  need  or  should  allocation  of  resources  be  equal?    

Solving the Issue of Resource Allocation in Detroit Schools

Mira Friedlander, Jon Shaw, Belen Ballesteros, Harleen Kaur, Athena Zhu

2

Why are there Differences?

   

Although  Detroit  Public  Schools  have  been  receiving  equal  funding  compared  to  neighboring  school  districts,  as  seen  by  the  data,  there  are  still  clear  differences  in  the  achievement  levels  of  the  students  in  these  different  school  districts.  This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  funding  is  not  an  issue,  but  that  the  problem  lies  more  in  resource  and  funding  allocation,  not  the  amount.  However,  the  success  of  school  districts  and  individual  achievement  is  not  solely  based  on  the  amount  of  resources  available  to  them.  The  Coleman  Report  and  its  implications  showed  that  student  achievement  comes  from  community  factors  and  the  abilities  of  their  teacher,  in  addition  to  the  way  that  money  is  spent  in  the  school  district  (Coleman  et  al.,  1966).  For  example,  Coleman  found  that  the  students  of  teachers  with  a  higher  vocabulary  had  more  achievement  in  the  classroom  than  students  of  teachers  with  a  lower  vocabulary  (Mirel,  2012).    

After  this  research,  a  conclusion  of  policy  analysts  argued  that  it  is  how  schools  spend  their  money  that  leads  to  higher  student  achievement,  and  one  example  was  professional  development.  

Using our Experiences Through  our  own  experiences  

with  the  teaching  and  learning  paper,  we  fill  that  it  is  vital  for  a  teacher  to  be  able  to  relate  their  own  knowledge  to  their  pedagogy  in  order  to  truly  help  their  students.  No  matter  how  intelligent  a  teacher  may  be,  if  they  are  unable  to  provide  their  students  with  the  right  skills  to  learn  new  material,  the  students  will  not  be  able  to  learn.  Furthermore,  a  teacher  needs  to  be  able  to  understand  the  different  ways  that  their  students  learn,  especially  when  they  come  up  with  a  solution  different  than  their  own  (Wilson  et  al.,  1987).  If  a  teacher  cannot  apply  their  knowledge  to  the  knowledge  of  their  students,  it  will  be  very  difficult  for  the  student  to  achieve  anything  in  the  classroom.  

Detroit King High School

Combined MME 37

VS.

Bloomfield Hills Andover

High School

Combined MME 160

DPS MME

Scores Range

5- 82

3

Equality vs. Equitable  The  argument  of  equal  versus  equitable  has  been  present  in  education  for  some  time;  while  some  believe  that  equal  funding  or  opportunity  is  enough  to  regulate  schools,  our  problem  falls  on  the  other  side  of  the  spectrum  because  of  a  lack  of  equal  results  in  achievement  (Levin,  2003).  Equitable  funding  would  mean  that  Detroit  Public  Schools  should  have  funding  and  regulations  based  on  their  situation  (i.e.  need,  background,  and  history),  since  it  is  clear  that  the  same  funding  that  works  for  districts  like  Bloomfield  Hills  does  not  work  for  Detroit.  Therefore,  we  believe  that  equitable  funding  would  be  fairer  and  lead  to  equal  achievement  among  the  students  in  the  different  school  districts.  

How Can We Fix It?

  It  can  be  said  that  effective  professional  development  is  vital  to  a  schools  success,  but  many  professional  development  programs  have  lacked  results.  These  programs  need  to  adapt  with  the  times;  from  working  with  an  increasingly  diverse  population,  new  technology,  and  rigorous  academic  standards  and  goals  (Education  weekly).  In  the  past,  Professional  development  was  done  with  the  workshop  approach,  where  schools  bring  in  an  outside  consultant  or  curriculum  expert  on  a  staff  development  day  to  give  teachers  a  one-­‐time  training  seminar  on  a  certain  subject  area.  These  were  ineffective,  the  one  time  workshop  would  not  have  lasting  effect  on  the  teachers.  It  is  necessary  to  have  a  more  ongoing  workshop  rather  than  the  short-­‐term  one  day  ones.  This  has  been  implemented  with  the  No  Child  Left  Behind  Act  of  2001,  but  there  is  no  evidence  to  suggest  that  states  and  districts  adhere  to  this  directive.  (Education  Weekly).       There  is  evidence  that  a  longer  workshop  can  be  effective.  But  that  is  not  all  that  is  necessary.  In  order  for  these  programs  to  work,  teachers  must  be  taught  to  adapt  with  the  culture.  Detroit  Public  Schools,  in  2010  began  to  transition  to  a  digital  curriculum.  This  was  on  a  much  smaller  scale,  as  it  was  just  for  a  summer  program.  200  educators  in  DPS  participated  in  an  intensive  professional  development  initiative  to  help  integrate  Discovery  Education  digital  content  into  the  curriculum  for  high  school  science  classes.  They  were  put  into  a  "boot  camp"  like  environment  to  accelerate  the  learning.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  positive  impact.  The  teachers  have  been  taught  to  incorporate  digital  and  multimedia  material  into  lesson  plans  that  better  interest  the  students,  and  help  their  ability  to  learn.    

Teacher Development Programs

What Should We Do?

After  studying  all  the  problems  in  Detroit  Public  Schools,  we  propose  that  the  best  way  to  provide  students  with  a  better  education  is  to  impart  more  effective  teacher  development  programs  Also,  we  think  it  is  important  to  distribute  the  money  in  another  way,  in  order  to  provide  with  more  resources  to  the  schools  that  need  more  elaborated  and  extensive  programs.  There  should  be  mandatory  professional  development  programs  for  every  teacher.  Each  program  can  be  adapted  to  different  schools.  The  teachers  form  schools  that  are  not  performing  as  well  should  attend  a  more  intensive  and  probably  longer  one.  Garet  et  al.  (2001)  stated  “Professional  development  is  likely  to  be  of  higher  quality  if  it  is  both  sustained  over  time  and  involves  a  substantial  number  of  hours”  (p.  933).  So  a  longer  program  could  greatly  improve  the  teaching  skills  of  these  teachers.  

Equitable or Equal Allocation As  we  have  seen,  some  schools  are  

performing  incredibly  well.  So  we  consider  that  they  will  not  need  more  funding,  they  clearly  know  how  to  allocate  their  resources.  On  the  other  hand,  some  schools  are  performing  really  poor.  We  saw  that  they  receive  equal  funding,  but  the  best  option  could  be  to  give  them  equitable  funding.  Many  schools  have  more  demanding  needs,  and  they  need  to  spend  more  money  on  teacher  development  programs,  while  others  do  not.  So  it  could  be  very  effective  to  give  more  resources  to  the  ones  that  really  need  them.      

Ingvarson  et  al.  (2005)  stated,  “The  key  ingredients  here  are  time  to  think,  analyze  and  talk  about  the  specifics  of  what  is  going  on  in  classrooms  and  what  students  are  doing  and  learning.”  (p.  17).  So  each  school  should  have  a  personalized  development  program,  not  all  the  institutions  have  the  same  needs.  There  should  be  an  intensive  study  of  each  center.  It  is  important  to  find  the  flaws  on  each  one  and  create  a  personalized  program  to  eliminate  these  problems.  

Also,  it  is  really  important  to  receive  feedback  after  each  program.  There  should  be  follow  up  with  both  teachers  and  students.  Analyze  whether  results  in  standardized  test  improve  or  not,  what  worked  and  what  did  not  and  restructure  the  program.  That  way  it  will  get  better  over  time  and  schools  can  beneficiate  even  

Professional Development Programs – an effective option

Flaws? What Could Go Wrong?

Time  could  prove  to  be  an  issue.  The  time  that  is  taken  for  professional  development  would  be  taken  out  of  the  workweek;  this  would  most  likely  result  in  delayed  starts  in  the  week  or  just  whole  days  off.  While  the  development  could  be  helpful,  the  time  that  it  takes  away  during  the  school  week  could  be  a  negative.    

In  a  study  relating  to  professional  development,  they  found  that  even  with  the  programs  helping  the  teachers  learn  new  information  about  teaching.  That  the  teachers  felt  overloaded  and  were  sometimes  reluctant  to  implement  these  new  programs.        

Developing Specific Programs

5

References

Beene,  R.  (2009,  December  8).  Detroit's  public  schools  post  worst  scores  on  record  in  national  assessment.  Crain’s  Detroit  Business.  Retrieved  from  http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20091208/FREE/912089997/detroits-­‐public-­‐schools-­‐post-­‐worst-­‐scores-­‐on-­‐record-­‐in-­‐national-­‐assessment    Coleman,  J.  S.,  Campbell,  E.  Q.,  Hobson,  C.  J.,  McPartland,  F.,  Mood,  A.  M.,  Weinfeld,  F.  D.,  et  al.  (1966).  Equality  of  educational  opportunity  .  Washington,  DC:  U.S.  Government  Printing  Office.    Detroit  Public  Schools,  Division  of  Financial  Services.  (2011,  November  11).  Comprehensive  annual  financial  report  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  2011.  In  Detroit  public  schools.  Retrieved  from  http://detroitk12.org/data/finance/docs/2011_Comprehensive_Annual_Financial_Report.pdf      Download.  (2009).  Bloomfield  Hills  (Michigan)  Schools  -­‐  Comprehensive  education  at  its  finest.  Retrieved  April  9,  2012,  from  http://www.bloomfield.org/download/category/3-­‐financial-­‐reports      Garet,  M.,  Porter,  A.,  Desimone,  L.,  Birman,  B.,  &  Yoon,  K.  (2001).  What  makes  professional  development  effective?  Results  from  a  national  sample  of  teachers.  American  Educational  Research  Journal,  38(3),  915-­‐945.    Hightower,  L.  (2007).  Poverty  and  Education.    Colleagues,  2  (2),  11.  Retrieved  from  http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/colleagues/vol2/iss2/10    Ingvarson,  L.,  Meiers,  M.  &  Beavis,  A.  (2005,  January  29).  Factors  affecting  the  impact  of  professional  development  programs  on  teachers’  knowledge,  practice,  student  outcomes  &  efficacy.  Education  Policy  Analysis  Archives,  13(10).  Retrieved  from  http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v13n10/.      Kampfer,  N.  (2011).  Detroit  Publlic  Schools:  Who's  Failing?.  Solidarity.    Retrieved  from  http://www.solidarity-­‐us.org/node/3354      Levin,  B.  (2003).  Approaches  to  equity  in  policy  for  lifelong  learning.  Equity  in  education.  Retrieved  from  http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/50/16/38692676.pdf    Mirel,  J.  (Director)  (2012,  March  28).  Does  money  matter  –  and  how  much?.  Education  118:  Schooling  in  a  Multicultural  Society.  Lecture  conducted  from  University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor.      National  Center  for  Education  Statistics,  U.S.  Dept  of  Education,  Michigan  Department  of  Education.  (2011).  Top  10  Michigan  Schools.  Retrieved  from  http://www.schooldigger.com/go/MI/schoolrank.aspx?pagetype=top10&level=3    Wilson,  S.  M.,  Shulman,  L.  S.,  &  Richert,  A.  E.  (1987).  “150  different  ways  of  knowing:  Representations  of  knowledge  in  teaching.”  In  J.  Calderhead  (Ed.),  Exploring  teachers’  thinking.    Sussex:    Holt,  Rinehart,  &  Winston.