Michigan’s School Reform Office plans to make aggressive moves this coming school year to rid the state of failing schools—putting chronically low-performing ones on notice that they might be closed by next June.
The number of schools expected to be shuttered isn’t known, said Natasha Baker, the director of the office. In 2014, more than 100 Michigan schools were ranked in the bottom 5 percent.
The reform office is planning to use the results of the state’s tough new exam to make decisions about which schools will close, despite assurances educators had been given by the Michigan education department that those results would not be used for high-stakes decisions until 2017.
