Table Of ContentPolicy Report No. 19
January 2004
Michigan Residents Grade Their
Schools: Results from the 2003 State
of the State Survey
Christopher B.Reimann, K-12 Outreach,
College of Education, Michigan State University
Kwanghyun Lee, Tara Donahue, The Education
Policy Center at Michigan State University
The State Board of Education and the schools and the state school system overall.
Michigan Department of Education are about Results from the most recent SOSS show a
to publish letter grades for each of the state’s sharp downturn in public confidence in the
4,015 public elementary, middle and high quality of public schools both locally and
schools. These grades are part of Education statewide.
YES!, Michigan’s new school accreditation
system. The familiar ABCD/F grades of their The May 2003 survey asked people to grade
youth will provide parents and the public with schools using the same ABCD/F scale used by
a summary measure of a number of school Education YES! The SOSS results below
quality indicators, including test scores, include approximately 10 percent of
attendance rates and parent involvement respondents who answered Don’t Know or
levels, in an easy to grasp format. The grades who did not answer a given question.
handed out by the state will be based on an
extensive set of data – far more data than has A Less Than Stellar Report Card
ever been available to the general public. Overall, respondents gave their local schools
higher grades than they gave schools across
Of course, most people already have a sense of the state (Figure 1). Fifty-four percent gave
how they would grade both their local schools their local schools grades of A or B, while
and the state school system as a whole. In only 40 percent gave those grades to the
fact, the State of the State Survey (SOSS) state’s schools as a whole.
conducted by Michigan State University’s
Institute for Public Policy and Social Research
(IPPSR) has for a number of years regularly
asked respondents to grade both their local
Figure 1.
Grades for Local Schools - 2003 Grades for State Schools - 2003
No Answer No Answer
9% 12%
A or B
40%
C, D or F A or B
37% 54%
C, D or F
48%
This pattern of higher grades for local schools Favorable grades (A or B) for local schools
held true in every geographic area in the also dipped below 50 percent in the West
state.The lowest grades came from Central region that includes Grand Rapids.
respondents in Detroit, where fewer than one State schools fared even worse in West Central
in four gave A or B grades to their local Michigan, receiving favorable grades from
schools, and only one in five gave positive only 27 percent of respondents there.
grades to the state system overall (Table1).
Table 1.
People who live in small cities, suburbs or dramatic finding of the analysis, less than one
rural areas also rated local schools in six African-Americans give their local
significantly higher than the state system as a schools a favorable grade, compared to three
whole (Table 2). Urban respondents, in of five white respondents. Grades from those
contrast, actually rated the state system more with children under 18 years of age were
favorably – barely – than their local schools, comparable to grades from those without
28 percent versus 27 percent. In the most school-age children.
Table 2.
Those without high school diplomas were least 3). Good opinion of local schools was steady
likely to give favorable grades to schools, across age groups, but good grades for the
either locally (36 percent) or statewide (20 state system fell as ages increased, from one in
percent). High school graduates and those two (49 percent) among young adults to one in
with technical or junior college degrees were three (34 percent) among senior citizens.
most likely to grade schools favorably (Table
Table 3.
The lowest grades were awarded by middle- independent voters gave either group of
income people: only 46 percent gave their schools favorable grades. Republicans were
local schools an A or B, and only 37 percent the most likely to give high marks to local
gave state schools an A or B. Those earning schools (64 percent A or B grades) and,
$70,000 or above were most likely to give simultaneously, the most likely to give low
positive grades to both categories of schools. marks to state schools (34 percent A or B
grades).
People varied in their opinions by political
affiliation (Table 4). Fewer than half of
Table 4.
What a Difference a Year – or Two – Makes Detroit. They dropped 22 percent in the
How do these 2003 grades for local schools suburbs and 17 percent in urban areas, 18
compare with those awarded by SOSS percent among Republicans and 19 percent
respondents in 2001? Dramatically, it turns among African Americans. Favorable
out. As can be seen in Table 5, 65 percent of opinions fell by as much as 26 points among
survey respondents gave A or B grades to their college educated respondents, 18 percent
local schools in 2001 – 11 points higher than among senior citizens and 17 percent among
in 2003. Favorable grades for local schools middle-income earners. Public views of
dropped 24 percent in the West Central region, schools statewide followed a similar pattern.
12 percent in the Southwest and 16 percent in
Table 5.
A Broader Context: 1998 SOSS Results only half the story (Figure 2). This is because
The widespread decline in favorable grades for the 2001 results were significantly higher than
schools both locally and statewide revealed by those recorded in 1998.
the 2003 SOSS results is dramatic, but it is
Figure 2.
Grades for Local Schools 1998-2003
80%
A or B
70%
A or B
60%
A or B
50%
C, D or F
40%
C, D or F
30%
C, D or F
20%
1998 2001 2003
Grades for State Schools 1998-2003
56%
A or B C, D or F
54%
C, D or F
52%
50%
48%
A or B
46%
C, D or F A or B
44%
1998 2001 2003
* These data do not include “Don’t Know”/”No Answer” responses.
The grades awarded in 2003 for both local data, the state runs the public relations risk of
schools and schools statewide are only slightly irrelevancy, if the state’s grades just tell
lower than the grades respondents gave in people something they think they already
1998. know. In this case, state grades might lead
people to conclude that the state has little new
Discussion information to offer that might help
Both critics and reformers recognize that the Michigan’s schools improve their
observed swings in grades awarded by the performance.
public reveal more about changes in the
public’s perception of schools than about Option #2: Pass Interception. It may turn out
changes in the schools themselves. In this that state grades for schools differ significantly
connection, it is important to recall that the from public opinion, rating them significantly
upward swing in favorable perceptions in May lower or higher than citizens themselves. In
2001 coincided with the tail end of a boom this case, the grades awarded by the state must
cycle in both the state and K-12 sector be robust enough to withstand challenges to
budgets. At that time, the state’s “rainy day their accuracy. If the grades awarded to
fund” showed a $1 billion surplus, and the schools lack “face validity,” the state risks
legislature had just established a multi-year something even worse than irrelevancy: the
budget process for the schools that was hailed charge that the state’s accreditation system is
as a major advance toward stable school fundamentally if not fatally flawed.
funding. The initial effects of Proposal A – a
“leveling up” of per pupil funding for many Option #3: Pass complete. It may turn out that
districts – had kicked in, and wider state grades for schools in fact differ from
implementation of school choice programs public perception, and that they come across
gave the public a sense that schools were both as credible and as helpful to parents and
beginning to respond to market forces. communities in understanding what is really
happening – and not happening – in their
By 2003, circumstances were dramatically schools. In this case, the state’s grades may
different. Both the state and K-12 budgets help citizens make accurate and informed
were in turmoil, and lists of “failing schools” judgments about their schools and what can be
required by the federal No Child Left Behind done to make them better.
(NCLB) Act had been released and
extensively covered in the media. Many The theme of NCLB and Education YES! is
communities are now struggling to come to accountability, and the refrain is evidence-
grips with the significant squeeze that based decisions about school improvement. If
Proposal A has put on school district budgets, school grades can prompt educators and the
as fixed costs outpace revenues tied to student public alike to shift from relying on anecdotal
enrollment. The future of Michigan’s public impressions and fond (or not so fond)
school system looks significantly darker than memories about their own schools to looking
it did in 2001. at factual evidence and recent trends, both
within schools and across the state, they will
What’s At Stake have served a valuable role in improving
In football, three things can happen when a education in Michigan.
team attempts a forward pass, and only one of
those is good. The current effort to grade The Survey
Michigan’s schools under Education Yes! The survey on which this report is based was
faces the came challenge. administered as part of the 31st wave of the
Institute for Public Policy and Social
Option #1: Pass Incomplete. It may turn out Research’s State of the State Survey. A total of
that the grades schools awarded by the state 965 phone interveiws were completed using
largely coincide with parent and community list-assisted random-digit sampling procedures
perceptions of their schools. While there is between June 27 and August 11, 2003. The
value in confirming popular impressions with margin of overall sampling error is +/-3.2
percent. The data reported in this policy report
are weighted to be representative of the adult For more information about this survey and
population in Michigan. Data from 2001 were related policy issues visit the Education Policy
obtained from the 21st wave of the State of the Center website at www.epc.msu.edu or the
State Survey, conducted between May 30 and Institute for Public Policy and Social research
July 12, 2001. The 2001 survey was based on website at www.ippsr.msu.edu.
958 interviews. The margin of error was +/-3.2
percent.
