LANSING/DEARBORN — Statistics were released on Monday by the Michigan Department of Education showing Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports for the state’s public school as part of its annual Michigan School Report Card. The reports are a key part of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The Dearborn Public School district received mostly passing marks on the scores, which are based on the MEAP test. 

All but five schools (including elementary schools) lived up to the standards; however, three of the city’s major high schools including Fordson, Edsel Ford, and Dearborn High, did not live up to the standards set. The other two in the district who did not pass are Snow Elementary and Dearborn Magnet High School. 

Schools that don’t meet AYP standards for two years straight could be subject to consequences from the department including replacing school staff or closing the school in extreme cases. 

The district as a whole was able to meet AYP standards for reading and math overall and notably in elementary and middle schools, however the high schools did not meet the standards in both categories. Dearborn Heights received the same results on the district level. 

Dearborn Schools Superintendent Brian Whiston said that low scores by a small handful of students dragged the high schools’ numbers down. 

“Many high schools in the state did not make AYP, remember it was a subgroup (30 kids) who did not make AYP but 1600 other kids did very well,” he said. 

“I do not like any system that allows for a small group of kids to cause the whole school to be labeled. That said…I am disappointed and we are working to address the small group of kids who did not make AYP. 

“We expected all of our schools, all of our kids to be successful, and soon (we) will see the ACT scores for our high schools and they went up.” 

On a statewide level, the number of schools failing to meet the AYP goals rose this year. A total of 79 percent of public schools met expectations compared with 86 percent from last year. 

Higher requirements by the U.S. Department of Education are also said to have affected the decline. The number of students who needed to be “proficient” on the MEAP test in order to pass went up by more than 10 percent this year in some areas. 

The U.S. government also will require that 100 percent of schools meet the AYP standards by the 2013-2014 school year but Michigan is seeking to be exempted from that requirement according to reports because it has raised proficiency standards for each subject.

The full statistics can be viewed at the department’s website, //www.michigan.gov/mde/.