M-STEP results: The Detroit school district is catching up to charter schools
For years, charter schools tended to perform slightly better than the Detroit district on state standardized tests. But a Chalkbeat analysis suggests the traditional public school system is catching up to suburban and city charters. The percentage of students in the…
The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) has shown improved performance compared to suburban and city charters on the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP), according to a recent Chalkbeat analysis. In nearly every grade, a greater percentage of DPSCD students achieved proficiency or higher in math compared to their peers in charter schools.
While charters still outperformed DPSCD in reading and writing, the gaps between the two groups narrowed. DPSCD's biggest improvement was in sixth-grade math, where they led by 3 percentage points over city and suburban charter schools. However, only 12.1% of sixth graders in DPSCD and 9% in charters met or exceeded proficiency in math.
The largest disparity in favor of charters was found in third-grade reading, with 20.3% of charter third graders at or above proficiency versus 14.1% in DPSCD. It's important to note that comparing the performance of Detroit's charter schools as a group to district schools can be challenging due to differences in educational practices, grade spans, and demographics.
Despite these challenges, some charter schools, like Pembroke Academy, have significantly outperformed both the district and state averages.
Written by urgent.news from Chalkbeat's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
