When money ran out at Albion High, the district shipped students to rival Marshall High School. What happens when poor, African-American students are bused to an affluent, nearly all-white high school? The answer may surprise you.
Ron French
Ron reports on a variety of subjects across the state. Ron came to Bridge in 2011 from The Detroit News, where he was a project reporter. Born and raised in Indiana, Ron graduated from Purdue University. He reported for newspapers across Indiana before moving to Michigan in 1995. Ron lives in Okemos, and like the true Michigander he’s become, he now has a family cabin Up North. You can reach him at rfrench@bridgemi.com or 517-214-3636.
Posted inTalent & Education
13 MILES TO MARSHALL: Hard classes and difficult lessons for Albion teens (chapter 2)
With wariness among students from both towns, Albion teens enter classrooms very different from their old school. ‘They can’t know what they haven’t been taught.’
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13 MILES TO MARSHALL: Are Albion and Marshall a model for other troubled districts? (chapter 3)
Two superintendents face down ‘racist’ concerns from parents in their communities, and begin to see the promise of their stand.
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13 MILES TO MARSHALL: For Albion students, a long day, but ‘worth it’ (chapter 4)
Seven months later, there is a growing optimism among students despite academic struggle. And the districts’ finances begin to grow.
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School’s not out for summer if policymakers get their way
Year-round school is suddenly the hot new education reform movement in Lansing. Bridge wrote about a wildly popular year-round district in Michigan’s Thumb last fall.
<p>Now bipartisan support for year-round schools is growing in the legislature.</p>
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Bill sponsor says year-round schools will prove popular
The devil is always in the details, but year-round bill sponsor Andy Schor, D-Lansing, says the pilot program spearheaded by him and Gov. Rick Snyder will ultimately win support from parents, students, and teachers.
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Michigan teachers are under the microscope
Bipartisan measure would tie part of a teacher’s evaluation to student growth on standardized tests. Implementing the new assessments would cost millions but backers say it will improve learning by giving teachers the training and support they need to get better.
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Teacher evaluation bill meant to help, not punish, co-sponsor says
Rep. Adam Zemke says new statewide teacher evaluation legislation will help students by improving teachers’ classroom performance.
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Michigan’s most overachieving schools: is your school an Academic State Champ?
One is a rural northern Michigan school district receiving the minimum state funding per student. Another is nestled in a wealthy suburban enclave populated with professors and physicians. Several more are charter schools serving low-income students of Middle-Eastern backgrounds. All are among the best public schools in Michigan, getting more out of their students than […]
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How Michigan’s colleges and universities rank on tough new teacher certification tests
Teacher prep programs at Michigan colleges and universities are scrambling to adjust to the state’s beefed-up teacher readiness exam, first given this past fall, that rated only a quarter of aspiring teachers ready for the classroom. The panic is being felt from the halls of Michigan State University’s nationally renowned school of education, where less […]
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