Michigan Scholars

Engaging students about their future“We are looking forward to working with our business volunteers to engage in conversations with our students about their futures,” said Antionette Turner, assistant superintendent for instruction. “This is a critical conversation about what they learn and what they can earn. What our students learn has a direct bearing on their future success. We are pleased and excited to be involved on the ground floor in the Michigan Scholars program.”Jim Sandy, executive director of the Michigan Business Leaders for Education Excellence, and the state director of Michigan Scholars, told the group that Saginaw is one of only two districts in Michigan selected to participate in the first year.
“ Saginaw is ahead of the pack,” he said. “Saginaw students will be the beneficiaries of this effort. We selected Saginaw because of the quality of the staff and the groundwork that is already in place. We know it can happen here.”Joe Randolph of Texas-based Eastman Chemical and founder of the Center for State Scholars, said the State program was started because too many states were requiring only minimum graduation standards for students.

“In Texas, you could get a high school diploma without taking basic algebra,” he said. “Expectations for employees were going up, up, up and students coming through the pipeline were still taking the ‘get by’ courses. We would go through 100 applicants to find one qualified candidate to interview. State Scholars was a response to this growing problem. The goal is to get all kids to take the right courses. It is a grassroots effort by business people and educators to motivate students to complete a more rigorous high school course of study.”

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Business and education working hand-in-hand

Randolph emphasized that Michigan Scholars is a collaborative effort in which business and education work hand-in-hand. He said Saginaw’s team of educators and business/community leaders have the latitude to modify and design a program that best fits the needs of SPS students. He also emphasized that this is a program for all students, not just the best and brightest.

“The middle 50 percent of the students sometimes don’t see the relevancy of high school courses to their future, yet I’ve found over the years that many of best and most motivated workers and leaders come from this group. Don’t ever sell the middle 50 percent short.

“The bottom 25 percent are the toughest to reach, but we have to reach them. If they don’t have the support at home, we have to provide it.”

The key, he said, is proper course content and standards that challenge every student to achieve his or her best.

Saginaw Scholars will begin in SPS in the coming weeks, with classroom presentations to eighth grade students in all middle schools. At today’s session, business leaders and educators observed Sharon Holoman, a former high school counselor and businessperson from Texas, deliver an energetic 45-minute Michigan Scholars presentation to a group of South Middle students. By the end of the presentation, the enthusiastic students understood the reason for higher academic standards, the impact the Michigan Scholars program can have on their future careers and earning power, and how they can get involved.

Holoman noted, too, that the district’s readiness to participate played a major role in its selection.

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Something special in Saginaw

“This was a competitive process,” she said. “Seventeen other states wanted to be in the next phase of the State Scholars program. Michigan beat out 17 states, and Saginaw was one of only two districts selected. They saw something special here in Saginaw.”

More information about the State Scholars initiative can be found at the following website: www.centerforstatescholars.org. The Michigan Scholar curriculum was recommended in a recent report by the Commission on Education and Economic Growth, headed by Lt. Gov. John Cherry, as a way of increasing the number of Michigan high school students who attend college. It also was included in Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s budget proposal, which recommends financial incentives for districts that adopt the Michigan Scholar Curriculum.

The program is a simple, low-cost, high-impact strategy to motivate students to complete high school courses that places business people in classrooms to promote the study of math, science, language arts, social studies and foreign language (the Michigan Scholars Course of study) immediately before students select high school courses. The initiative is managed by the Michigan Business Leaders for Education Excellence.
News & Notes will report regularly on the Saginaw Scholars Program as it unfolds in the district over the coming weeks and months.

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