President Barack Obama on Tuesday chose a traditional high school in Michigan over a charter school in Denver and a Montessori school in Cincinnati as the winner of the commencement challenge.
Kalamazoo Central High School won the opportunity to get Obama to speak at its graduation ceremony, beating out 1,000 other schools.
The Denver School of Science & Technology, based in the Stapleton neighborhood, was one of three finalists. Instead, the school will be getting a member of the president’s Cabinet to speak at its May 29 ceremony.
School chief Bill Kurtz said he expected students, who made videos to market DSST to the commander in chief and lobbied the public to vote online for the school, will be disappointed by the decision. “But this has raised the awareness of what a public high school can be.”
White House officials in a press call last week said Obama’s choice would be influenced by the schools’ proven academic excellence; how well they have closed the achievement gap; how ready students are for college or careers; and college-
attendance rates.
Each of the top three schools had elements of those measures.
However, Kalamazoo Central High School doesn’t have quite the same academic record as DSST.
Kalamazoo Central got a C- grade on the Michigan School Report Card, which looks at status and growth scores. The school made federal Adequate Yearly Progress only once since 2002.
DSST is rated the top school in Denver and has among the highest academic-growth rates in Colorado.
Half of Kalamazoo’s ninth-graders were proficient or advanced on the 2009 Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests.
About 62 percent of DSST’s ninth-
graders were proficient or advanced on reading, math and writing on the 2009 Colorado Student Assessment Program.
And Kalamazoo Central’s 11th-
graders got a composite score of 18 on the ACT tests — 1 point below the Michigan state average. DSST’s juniors had a composite score of 24 on the ACT — 5 above the Colorado state average.
Both schools, however, are doing a great job at getting kids into college.
Since 2006, 91 percent of Kalamazoo Central graduates have gone to college — boosted by The Kalamazoo Promise, a college-scholarship program for Kalamazoo graduates.
DSST says 100 percent of its seniors were accepted to four-year universities or colleges. And the school has some of the state’s lowest remediation rates for incoming college freshmen.
Kurtz was disappointed about the decision but added, “We’re really proud of our students.”
Mark Heffron, the high school director, said the students will always remember this experience. For many of the students, this will be the most selective event of their lives.
“For me, we’ve been recognized in a signficant way,” Heffron said. “The kids will get over it.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
