Relocations | Comparing Schools is Part of the Task

Family courts are inundated with requests for relocations just before the beginning of the school year. According to the Detroit Free Press, Michigan's Department of Education just released its mandated report "2011 Public School Ranking Top to Bottom" for Michigan schools. These rankings may be useful for parents and family lawyers dealing with relocation motions.

The state released the latest round of top-to-bottom school rankings     today for Michigan schools. This is the second year the state has created statewide rankings and the methodology has changed; therefore, a school's rank in 2010 is not directly comparable to its rank in 2011. These rankings of student achievement and on growth of student bodies are based on student achievement as shown by test results on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) for elementary/middle school students and the Michigan Merit Examination (MME) for high school students. Something new this year--the top to bottom rankings also include achievement gap data for all schools and graduation rates for high schoools.

The ranking gives the percentage of schools in the state that had lower achievement/improvement. In other words, if your child's school has a percentile rank of 90, this means that 90% of schools statewide scored below this school's result.

State ranking scores and federal grant formulas are also used to identify the persistently lowest achieving (PLA) schools.   Among the 98 schools that made PLA status in 2011 , more than half (53%) are located in Wayne County, while 14% are in Macomb and Oakland counties.

Search this database to see how your child's school or the proposed school ranks.

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Comments

[Miranda Bailey-Quick]

Is there any court of appeals support directing trial courts that they must compare schools when evaluating the best interest factors?