Overview

The state of K12 education in Michigan is not a secret to anyone who has been paying attention.  It seems that every school district in the state has been cutting back and trying to find ways to manage their budgets better than the previous year and still educate their students.

Guidance Counselors have been included in the disposable portion of each districts budget and this creates a definitive level of concern.  Guidance counselors represent the final conduit for students who desire college and those who need help making the transition beyond high school.  A major reason why this statement is true:  no one else in the high schools are charged with helping the students complete applications, navigate scholarships / financial aid, or meet the deadlines for tests or applications.

The Michigan Department of Education cannot be the only organization responsible for fixing the educational system that has fallen in disarray.  The three largest counties for high school enrollment in Michigan ( Wayne, Oakland and Macomb) are not achieving as well as the residents of Michigan would hope; based on the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) assessment that is being used to measure the success of student education.

The fact that more than half of the high schools in 2007-08 of the greater Detroit area did not meet AYP leads to an understanding of why the majority of our students are not even meeting the benchmarks of the standardized test called the ACT.  To complicate matters we allow students to graduate with substandard grades or not completing the courses that will help them improve test scores or be better prepared to enter college.

Fortunately there are people and organizations that recognize the need or the opportunity that has been created by the fracture of our public education system.  What rises from the ashes of desperation is a movement of hope and desire to see that the innate concepts of the American dream are never lost.