Sam Metry ’13| Associate Editor

Even though it is ranked one of the top schools in the state and country by numerous services, South received a B grade from the state on the Michigan School Report Card.

This year, the state of Michigan changed what was considered proficient from years past, Principal Dr. Matt Outlaw said. If these new cut scores had been in place before, South would not have received an A at any time in recent history.

“Almost no high schools are getting As,” said Outlaw. “We will get there, we will get to an A.”

The Michigan School Report Card is way for the state to grade each public and charter school, Outlaw said. The way the grades are given is from Michigan Merit Exam (MME) scores. The report looks at improvement from year to year along with subgroup and overall scores.

“Math and science were our lower points, but I see room for improvement across the board,” said Outlaw.

Even after going over the scores with an adjusted cut score, which made it possible to compare this year’s scores to last year’s, South’s scores still dropped, Outlaw said.

“While not the only reason, the size of testing sub-groups varied significantly between the 2011 and 2012 testing groups,” said Outlaw via email. “Specifically, the impact of a significantly higher proportion of economically disadvantaged students may account for some of the score differential. Economic disadvantage has been proven in countless studies done since the 1960s to be the leading indicator of student achievement scores on almost all standardized testing measures.”

According to the School Demographic Report released by the Michigan Department of Education, out of the 365 students tested, 55 percent are considered proficient in math and 48 percent are considered proficient in science.

When looking specifically at the 31 students in the economically disadvantaged subgroup, which was 8.5 percent of those tested, the scores drop significantly. In math and science, only 13 percent of students were considered proficient.

One main thing that the administration has created to raise test scores is tentatively being named South Success Teams, Outlaw said. This new program has comprised a list of 212 students, from all grades, who the administration deemed “in need of additional support.” Students on this list have received two or more Ds and Es and are considered “off track” for success on the MME.

“Our goal as a team is to make sure those individuals are successful,” said Outlaw.

Of those 212 students, a team of approximately 10 teachers will work together to provide support to match the needs of that specific group, Outlaw said.

“For example, a freshman student with a learning disability will likely be assigned to a team that includes their caseload teacher, teachers of freshman courses and perhaps a counselor that could provide support,” said Outlaw, via email. “Members of the team will do things including finding additional help, offering tutoring, checking grade progress or anything else that can help students to succeed.”

“We’re not a school that accepts a B in anything. That’s not part of our nature, so it’s a difficult thing to see that B on there,” said Outlaw. “It was something that we expected; it’s something where we have a very strong plan to address. I expect that our scores will be higher in all areas this year.”