Sharp Park Academy Improvements Lead to Release as Focus School
The Jackson Public School District is pleased to announce that the Michigan Department of Education has released Sharp Park Academy from its Focus School Status Report Card Category. In 2012, the Michigan Department of Education added a “focus” category to its Michigan School Report Card. The state report card lists the federal Adequate Yearly Progress, the Education YES grades and the overall top-to-bottom rankings of all school buildings. Focus status designation was given to schools in Michigan who have large achievement gaps between their top 30 percent of students and the bottom 30 percent of students. At that time JPS’s Sharp Park IB World School was notified of its “focus” status. Release from “focus” status mandated significant accountability and reporting requirements by the State of Michigan’s Department of Education. Jackson Public Schools received a letter from Brian J. Whiston; Michigan State Superintendent today August 12, 2015. Mr. Whiston stated “Congratulations! The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is releasing the following 2012 Cohort school from Focus School status: Sharp Park Academy. Your school’s hard work and emphasis on data-driven decisions have narrowed the achievement gap between the top and bottom performing 30 percent of students in the above named focus school(s).…