President Barack Obama today said he will give the commencement address at Kalamazoo Central High School, choosing the traditional Michigan high school over a charter school in Denver and a Montessori school in Cincinnati.
About 1,000 schools applied to have the president speak at their graduations.
Denver School of Science & Technology, based in Stapleton, was one of three finalists for the president’s pick. Instead, the school will be getting a member of the president’s cabinet to speak at its May 29 commencement.
“Students will be disappointed,” said Bill Kurtz, head of school, who spoke with the press outside of the DSST this morning after Obama’s choice was made public on the White House’s website. “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 would pick the top school based on proven academic excellence, how it has closed the achievement gap, how it has made students ready for college or careers and its college attendance rate.
All of the final 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 has made federal Adequate Yearly Progress only once since 2002.
DSST is rated the top school in Denver and has among the highest growth rates in Colorado.
Half of Kalamazoo’s ninth-graders were proficient or advanced on the 2009 Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests.
Approximately 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’s Central’s 11th graders got an 18 percent composite score on the ACT tests — one percentage point below the Michigan state average.
DSST’s juniors scored a composite score of 24 points on the ACT — 5 points 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 got accepted to four-year universities or colleges. And the school has some of the state’s lowest remediation rates for incoming college freshmen.
“We’re really proud of our students,” Kurtz said. “There is a sense of disappointment and a sense of pride.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
