Chalkbeat

Education news. In context.

Chalkbeat

Moving Costs

How students changing schools disrupts Detroit classrooms, a joint project from Chalkbeat and Bridge Magazine.

Finding solutions

Detroit
November 7, 2018

Forum to seek solutions to Detroit’s problems with frequent school moves

The discussion, 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 15 at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library at 5201 Woodward, will be recorded and later aired on WDET's “Detroit Today” and DPTV's “American Black Journal.”
Detroit
October 10, 2018

Enrollment instability is a major reason why schools are struggling — so why isn’t anyone tracking the problem?

A Milwaukee newspaper that surveyed the education departments in all 50 states found that half don’t collect or post data on students hopping around. And of states that do collect the data, the numbers they collect are so inconsistent that making state-to-state comparisons is nearly impossible.

Moving costs

Detroit
October 3, 2018

Michigan gubernatorial candidates Schuette, Whitmer push for bus fixes to help Detroit schools

One day after an investigation by Chalkbeat and Bridge Magazine found 1 in 3 Detroit elementary students switched schools every year, candidates Bill Schuette and Gretchen Whitmer said their education plans could help.
Detroit
October 2, 2018

The children of 8B: One classroom, 31 journeys, and the reason it’s so hard to fix Detroit’s schools

The 31 eighth-graders in Bethune’s “8B” homeroom had collectively attended a total of 128 schools — an average of more than four schools each. They are among countless others just like them in cities like Detroit — kids who’ve spent their childhoods starting over every couple of years, navigating new schools, trying to fit in.

survey says

Detroit
October 2, 2018

Detroit makes it easy to switch schools. So parents do. Frequently.

Overwhelmingly, Detroit parents said they moved their children to new schools because they wanted better for their child — a safer school, a cleaner school, the kind of school where their children could thrive.
Detroit
October 2, 2018

They don’t even say goodbye: The heartbreak and challenge for teachers in schools where students are on the move

When students frequently change schools, that has serious consequences for kids. For their teachers, it’s a recipe for heartbreak.

Lost and found

Detroit
October 2, 2018

At a Detroit school, two women become detectives when students stop showing up

One or two students leave Bethune Elementary-Middle School every week, but only a handful notify the school of their plans to leave. The rest have to be found.

Simple steps

Detroit
October 2, 2018

5 ways to stop students from changing schools — or at least reduce the impact

Solving the damaging problem of Detroit students moving frequently between schools would require sweeping policy changes to both stabilize housing and improve the quality of public education. But schools and policymakers could also take simpler, smaller steps to help ease a crisis created when more than 1 in 3 elementary school students change schools every year.