Officials Abolish ‘No-Flunking’ Policy

Madison District Schools officials abolish ‘no-flunking’ policy
By Jeremy Adragna
C & G Staff Writer

MADISON HEIGHTS — Madison District Schools officials unanimously approved a policy change last week that ends the practice of promoting students that do not meet certain academic requirements.

For many years, parents would simply have to write a letter to administrators instructing them to pass their child on to the next grade level. The promotions were made even if a student was failing.

Discussion of a problem linked to the policy came to light in December, when new Madison High School Principal Carl Wagner said it was directly resulting in the school’s failure to meet federal educational standards.

For several years the district has failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, a key measure of the No Child Left Behind Act adopted in 2001. Madison High School and the district’s alternative education-based Community High School both failed to meet the standards in 2007.

Wagner said the new policy would likely create more options for students that fall behind their peers in high school.

“If by 18 we can get those that are repeated failures to pass the GED, then they are eligible to go to community college,” said Wagner. “If you get good grades, then the university won’t even look at your high school grades. It becomes an avenue for the student that has been messing up.”

Under the plan, students scheduled to enter high school would be required to meet certain standards or else they would not be allowed to move into Madison High School. If a student failed a class they would be transferred to Community High School for a second go-round at meeting academic criteria.

Many in the district are concerned that students pass through the high school within four years once they are approved to enter. After a student turns 19 years old, the district no longer receives state aid to fund their education.

Some on the Board of Education are concerned that the change could set up a system in which the district could routinely be forfeiting state aid. Once a student enters the high school, the district must graduate them within four years or face a loss of revenue. When students are held back, they put the funding in jeopardy, said board member Larry Lewis.

“Eventually, if we do this, then by their senior year we’re going to lose the revenue,” said Lewis.

Also on the block is a plan to shuffle mathematics classes to determine whether a student is likely to fail before they enter Madison High School. Superintendent Paul Rogers said he’s pushing to move algebra classes to eighth-grade because it could help identify students that need help adjusting to high school before they get there.

“Whether or not they can pass in algebra is the greatest predictor of their success in the Michigan Merit Curriculum,” said Rogers. “Out whole aim is to graduate kids in four years. The clock starts ticking once they walk into the ninth-grade. We want to make sure they are ready for the ninth-grade.”

Rogers expects test scores to skyrocket in the next year. He credits his students with hard work and reported that 40 percent of high school students made the honor roll last semester. Of the district’s Schools of Choice students that come from other districts, 43 percent made the honor roll, Rogers said.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Adragna at jadragna@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1101.