New research from Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, or EPIC, found that Michigan’s Partnership Model of School and District Turnaround appeared to be improving student achievement prior to the pandemic and may have helped to shield students in Partnership schools from some of the pandemic’s harmful academic effects.

Michigan’s Partnership Model of School and District Turnaround launched in the spring of 2017 to support the state’s low-performing schools and districts. Prior to the pandemic, Michigan’s Partnership schools were showing some evidence of improvements in academic outcomes. However, due to the suspension of state testing in 2019-20 and the optional nature of these exams in 2020-21, little has been known until now about how students in Partnership schools fared during the pandemic. 

This new report looks at student achievement in Partnership schools and districts over three distinct periods: pre-turnaround years, pre-pandemic turnaround years and pandemic-affected turnaround years.

While Partnership schools remain among the lowest performing in the state, they were making improvements before the pandemic, particularly in English Language Arts, or ELA, in the first cohort of schools to enter the Partnership Model. Compared to students in similarly low-performing schools, students in Partnership schools have largely continued to make academic improvements since the onset of the pandemic. 

These differences could be attributed to school-based factors, as past research by EPIC has shown that teachers in Partnership schools perceive their school leaders to be more effective and their school climates to be more positive than teachers at other schools in the same districts. Partnership school principals have also reported greater use of strategies to accelerate learning, including one-on-one tutoring and spending extra time on core subjects.

“While the Partnership Model has had some positive effects on student achievement in Partnership schools relative to non-partnership comparison schools, these positive effects must be strengthened by continued state support for Grow Your Own, or GYO, programs for students and support staff to become teachers, fellowships for aspiring educators to help complete college, and student teacher stipends to profoundly reduce the teacher shortage,” said Michigan’s State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice. 

“To make up for the inexcusable growth in funding of Michigan public schools relative to schools in other states from 1995 to 2015, the state needs to continue to work on funding adequacy and equity, with significant weighted funding for students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and English learners, more significantly numerous in partnership schools rather than in non-partnership comparison schools. This funding needs to be used to help teachers, support staff, and administrators fund research-based education, strategies, supports, and interventions for children, as well as to improve staff compensation,” Rice said.

 

Partnership schools have historically posted the lowest rates of both math and ELA proficiency in 3rd through 8th grade, and while math proficiency rates did in particular drop during the pandemic, but the declines were less steep in Partnership than comparison schools. Meanwhile, students in Partnership high schools made greater gains in math than non-Partnership comparison schools over the course of the pandemic, and scores remained largely consistent in ELA. 

“Partnership schools and districts are located in the communities that were most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of health and economic consequences,” said Katharine Strunk, faculty director of EPIC and the Clifford E. Erickson Distinguished Professor of Education Policy. “And yet, these results show that Partnership schools were resilient, working to improve student outcomes even as they faced extraordinary challenges.”

Policy recommendations based on the report’s findings include:

• Policymakers should stay the course with Partnership schools and districts to facilitate continued progress. 
• As COVID-19 relief funds dry up, Partnership schools and districts will need additional resources to combat the detrimental effects of the pandemic. Equity-based funding will be important for students in under-resourced schools.
• Intensive elementary math supports in particular are critical for Partnership schools to rebound from the learning disruptions caused by the pandemic. 
• Schools in Partnership districts that are not classified as Partnership schools may need additional attention during pandemic recovery efforts.

More research from EPIC’s longitudinal study on the Partnership Model of School and District Turnaround can be found at: https://epicedpolicy.org/partnership-model/