Education Achievement Authority: A Controversial Experiment in School Reform

The Education Achievement Authority (EAA) was envisioned as a turnaround district for some of the worst-performing schools in the state. When policymakers create statewide school districts to turn around their worst-performing public schools, the results can be mixed. This article examines the Education Achievement Authority (EAA), a controversial experiment in school reform that had mixed results.

Genesis of the EAA

Like Tennessee's Achievement School District (ASD), the EAA was created in response to the Race to the Top competition. The Education Achievement Authority, or EAA, is a specialized public school system sponsored by the Michigan Department of Education. It opened its doors in Detroit nearly five years ago. States that want to embrace this approach to school turnarounds need to create conditions that are essential to success, Fordham’s report concludes.

Structure and Purpose

The EAA was supposed to operate as a turnaround district for some of the worst-performing schools in the state, though it never expanded beyond the initial group of 15 Detroit schools that it took on in 2012. The EAA directly runs 12 of the schools; three were converted into charter schools. The EAA uses a variety of strategies to encourage student growth.

Key Features of the EAA Model

Students spend 1,600 hours in a calendar year in EAA schools. This is possible through an extended school day of 7.5 hours, and a 210-day school year. Unlike in standard public schools, students are not confined to certain subject matter based on their grade level. For instance, if a student completes all 9th grade coursework with proficiency, she will progress to 10th grade work immediately, even if the school year has not ended. Inversely, if a student requires more than one school year to complete 11th grade work, she will not be penalized.

Flexible coursework allows for students to progress at their own pace and receive individualized feedback based on their progress. Coursework is done using a blended learning approach, where students split time between technology and standard classwork. Results have generally been favorable for this approach: reports conducted by the EAA for the 2012-2013 school year revealed 64 percent of students in EAA schools showed at least a year's growth in reading and 68% showed at least a year's growth in math.

Challenges and Criticisms

Almost immediately following the creation of the EAA, there have been many criticisms of its practices. The most flagrant accusations have been towards the conditions, budget and transparency of the district. There have been numerous reports of declining enrollment, poor treatment of students in special education, and even violence from students and faculty alike. Requests by the EAA to expand have been met with opposition from the public and state lawmakers. The district's longer schedule and other operating costs demand a sizable budget, but enrollment has decreased in these schools. Under Michigan state law, 90 percent of the budget for public education is determined by October class sizes. With fewer students, the state does not have an incentive to provide a larger budget. Furthermore, many seeking information about the EAA have been met with difficulty, prompting some to resort to filing access claims under the Freedom of Information Act.

In addition to the media and public criticism, some education experts have also weighed in against the EAA. According to Detroit's Metro Times, Thomas Pedroni, an education specialist and associate professor at Wayne State University (MI), reports that the findings published by the EAA regarding achievement improvements conflict with the results of the state's standardized Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests. The MEAP results report a number of students in EAA schools showed no change in proficiency, or even regressed to a lower level. The discrepancy in results has yet to be explained in detail, but many use it to cast further doubt on the program.

Enrollment Trends

Before the EAA took over the 15 Detroit schools, about 11,000 students were enrolled in those buildings. Five years later, the system enrolls just under 6,000 students. The EAA also has far fewer special education students than DPSCD.

Academic Performance

Yet, there have been glimmers of optimism. Test scores are on the rise at most EAA schools, though overall performance remains disturbingly low. Excellent Schools Detroit, in its annual scorecard of schools in the city that was released earlier this year, noted that "it is evident" that EAA schools in Detroit are improving while DPSCD "is declining." In fact, seven of the nine K-8 EAA schools improved in reading and eight of them improved in math on the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, according to state data.

The Return to DPSCD

In less than three months the Education Achievement Authority will disband, bringing to an end a controversial experiment in school reform that had mixed results. Now, the EAA schools are coming home - returning to the Detroit Public Schools Community District. "As of July 1, we are one district - one district united, moving forward on a positive trajectory," said Alycia Meriweather, interim superintendent of the DPSCD. The end of the EAA is happening during an already tenuous time in the Detroit district. A $617-million legislative package passed by state lawmakers in June resolved the district's debt, created a new district - the DPSCD - to educate kids, while leaving the old Detroit Public Schools intact to collect taxes and pay off debt. It also required the EAA to close - sealing a fate that was all but certain in February 2016 when regents at Eastern Michigan University voted to pull out of the interlocal agreement that formed the district. The Detroit district and the state were the other partners in that agreement.

Transition Issues

Unifying the district, however, has created new issues for both the EAA and the DPSCD as they grapple with what the future will look like, from staffing and teacher salaries to student achievement and addressing the unease felt by EAA teachers and students. DPSCD officials have sought to ease some of those fears. They have held community meetings in every EAA school to answer questions. And recently they offered a guarantee: The district will hire EAA teachers, who will be allowed to remain in their schools if they want, provided they aren't rated as ineffective - a rule that affects just 2% of EAA teachers, according to 2015 data from a state database. The district also won't hire uncertified teachers. "The real issue here is communicating stability in a community that's had so much turmoil," Meriweather said. Officials from the Detroit district and the EAA have worked since last fall to address all the issues related to the transition. Weekly cabinet meetings are held, as are multiple other meetings to discuss things such as staffing and finances. The Detroit board of education recently created its own ad-hoc committee to deal with transition issues.

There has been much to resolve. For instance, in the EAA, principals have more control over their budgets and autonomy over who they hire, while in DPS hiring is done at the central office level. Some of that autonomy will remain, but on a limited basis. At 24 schools - 16 in DPSCD and 8 in the EAA - that were identified by the state for potential closure earlier this year, the principals will have some independence. That's part of the district's efforts to turn around those schools, given they were identified by the state because they have ranked in the bottom 5% for three straight years. A partnership agreement the district signed with the state last week means those schools won't be forced to close by the state. "The intention is for them to have more autonomy over their budget and hiring," Meriweather said. But that won't be the case for all other EAA schools. They'll have to adjust without the autonomy they've had for the last five years - operating like most of the other schools in DPSCD.

Another issue: the EAA has both a longer school day and a longer school year. The Detroit district isn't expected to adopt the same calendar for all of its schools. But the 24 that were at-risk for closure will be able to adopt some type of schedule that provides more learning time for students. "It could be an extended year or days or Saturdays," Meriweather said. "That's going to be up to the individual schools. While we do believe there should be extended learning time, we're not mandating how it be extended." Meanwhile, the district still must rework the feeder patterns that determine which elementary and middle schools feed into which high schools. Those patterns were disrupted when the EAA was formed and six high schools were removed from the district and placed in the EAA.

Concerns about Staffing and Salaries

A chunk of the concern revolves around staffing. EAA teachers aren't unionized. They have higher salaries than DPSCD teachers. And they also don't pay into the state retirement system for school employees. But there's also the need to address the unease teachers, students and parents have expressed in recent months about what will become of their schools and the teachers who staff them.

One issue that is already causing strife is salaries. An EAA teacher with a year of experience starts with an average salary of $46,875, while in DPSCD, a teacher with a year of experience is paid between $35,683 and $37,984, with the low end including teacher's with a bachelor's degree and the high end including teachers with a PhD. That's according to a salary comparison provided by the EAA. EAA teachers are paid more largely because of the extended time they spend teaching. EAA teachers also receive bonuses, some of them for performance. Some EAA teachers have asked the board of education to not force them to take a pay cut when their schools return. But so far, no decisions have been made. It's one of the issues being addressed in negotiations between the district and the Detroit Federation of Teachers for a contract to replace one that expires June 30.

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The Future

Meriweather said she has tried to communicate that the return of the EAA schools expands options for families. On March 20, Meriweather was among a team of DPSCD officials who met with the community at the EAA's Central High School to talk about the transition. She talked about the district's intense focus on the five pillars of literacy, innovation, career pathways, family and community, and wraparound services - saying these are the things everything in the district is focused around. She also took them through a history of what has happened in the district since the state took control. "Our main objective is that the district, as we move forward, provides the best education possible for the students of the city," Meriweather said.

In a March interview, she said the district has done facility and academic walk-throughs of the EAA - the latter designed to identify what has worked in the EAA and what hasn't. "The things that have worked, we want to allow those to continue and replicate. The things that don't work, we would like those to stop. And that goes for DPSCD. You learn from what's working and you learn just as much from what's not," Meriweather said in a follow-up interview.

Broader Educational Initiatives

Title I Part A provides resources to schools and districts to ensure that all children have a fair, equitable, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and close educational achievement gaps. The New Hampshire Migrant Education Program (NH MEP) addresses the unique educational barriers faced by migrant workers and their families in the state. Migrant students are some of the most disadvantaged children and youth nationwide. Many are out-of-school, and those in school are often at risk of failing or dropping out due to frequent moves, cultural differences, and language barriers. In fact, research shows that each change in school can set back a child or youth’s education by four to six months. The purpose of Title II, Part A is to increase the academic achievement of all students by helping schools and districts improve teacher and principal quality and ensure that all teachers are highly qualified. In exchange, agencies that receive funds are held accountable to the public for improvements in academic achievement. With Title III funds, the New Hampshire Title III Office provides technical assistance and training to teachers, administrators and other stakeholders; collects data about EL students; awards Title III grants to school districts; and, provides educational resources which enable teachers, parents and administrators to help ELs succeed academically and socially. Title IV, Part B- Nita M.

The Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21CCLC) program is a federal program funded under Title IV, Part B of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This federal funding stream focuses on out of school time programming for expanded academic enrichment opportunities for children attending high poverty schools. Tutorial services and academic enrichment activities are designed to help students meet local and state academic standards in subjects such as reading and math. The purpose of the Rural and Low-Income School program is to provide rural districts with financial assistance for initiatives aimed at improving student achievement. The grant is non-competitive, and eligibility is determined by statute. In order to be eligible school districts must have at least 20% of the children they serve come from families with incomes below the poverty line and be located in a rural area.

The McKinney-Vento Act, Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program is designed to address the challenges which homeless children and youth face with enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. The New Hampshire Department of Education has created multiple technical assistance documents to assist our local educational agencies in the administration of ESEA programs; strengthening the capacity of the grant recipient and improving the performance of grant functions. The Office of ESEA Title Programs has implemented a consolidated programmatic monitoring process to create efficiencies across the risk assessment, desk and onsite monitoring, and all related reporting and corrective action plans. The information and documentation requested in this application will allow NHED reviewers to ensure that all LEAs are fully prepared to effectively address key provisions of ESSA regulations. The Office of ESEA Title Programs provides technical support and documentation to ensure the proper execution of equitable service requirements authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Maintenance of effort (MOE) requires LEAs to maintain their state and local expenditures at a specified level from one fiscal year to the next. If you are a recipient of a federal grant under ESSA, the MOE requirement specifies that you must spend at least 90% of state and local funds for free public education as you spent in the prior fiscal year. The Every Student Succeeds Act encourages evidence-based decision-making as a way of doing business. District improvement is continuous, systemic, and a cyclical process that requires the use of evidence in decision-making throughout these larger processes. Section 1603(b) requires each state educational agency (SEA) that receives funds under Title I to create a state committee of practitioners (COP) to advise the state in carrying out its responsibilities under Title I.

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