The State of Michigan gives several Lansing Public Schools a Failing Grade!

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They are NOT making the grade! That’s what the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), is saying about Lansing’s 3 main public high schools and several of its elementary schools.

In a report released yesterday, the MDE identified more than a dozen schools in Lansing as underperforming and in need of “concentrated support” from the state.

Schools in 54 school districts across Michigan have been identified as scoring in the bottom 5% of the state’s accountability system or having a four-year graduation rate of 67% or less. The districts will have to enter into partnerships with the MDE to receive concentrated support to develop 18-and-36 month benchmarks.

These are the Lansing schools the state has designated for support and improvement:

• Attwood New Tech Magnet School

• Capital Area K-12 Online

• Eastern High School

• Everett High School

• Forrest G. Averill School

• Gardner International School

• Gier Park Elementary School

• J.W. Sexton High School

• Lyons Elementary School

• Mt Hope Elementary School

• North Elementary School

• Reo Elementary School

• Wexford Montessori Magnet School

The head of Lansing public schools, Superintendent Ben Shuldiner, released a statement in response to the state’s report:

“Today, we acknowledge what the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has stated, that for far too long, the Lansing School District has underserved our children.

We have already taken significant steps to ameliorating the areas of concern: we have hired more teachers, we have increased Pre-K enrollment, we have created an alternative education school, we have increased Career and Technical Education programs, we passed a bond to build new schools, we have created the Department of Instruction to focus on improving instruction in the classrooms to name just a handful of positive changes. But we must do more.

We welcome this partnership with MDE so that together the school district and MDE can better serve our students and our community.” (Dr. Ben Shuldiner, Superintendent, Lansing School District; 11/29/22)