Overview of the Context Anchor Bay High School- Anchor Bay Schools 2013 Kristin Anderson

Anchor Bay is a unique community located on the northeast corner of Lake St. Clair, about 20 miles from Detroit. Currently, the district resides in the Ne Baltimore and Chesterfield, !ichi"an areas. #hese areas are all located ithin !acomb County, !ichi"an. #he City of Ne Baltimore as incor$orated as a %illa"e in &'() and as a City in &*+&. #oday, access to the City is $ro,ided ,ia -.*/, hich is located 0ust outside the City limits. Ne Baltimore and Chesterfield areas can be classified as both rural and industriali1ed. #here are many farms that are still in $roduction today as ell as many de,elo$ed areas that $ro,ide 0ob o$$ortunities for the community members ho are not trained in a"riculture. #he Anchor Bay School District co,ers 2'.2& square miles of land area and 0.&/ square miles of ater area. #he district ser,es fi,e munici$alities in northern !acomb and southern St. Clair. #he socio.economic status of Anchor Bay students ,aries from economically disad,anta"ed to u$$er middle class in the communities ser,ed. As of 20&0, the total Anchor Bay School District $o$ulation is +/,'*0. 3re.kinder"arten throu"h t elfth "rade enrollment is a$$ro4imately 2,/00 students. #he Anchor Bay School District has t el,e school buildin"s and one community aquatic center. #he district $ro,ides a $reschool $ro"ram that occu$ies its o n buildin" ithin the district. #he $ro"ram is offered to all of the $arents5students in the Anchor Bay area for a distinct tuition fee. 3reschool is not mandatory, but recommended for the districts6 students. Anchor Bay 7i"h School ser,es a$$ro4imately &,*00 students, and is a student.success oriented facility that has a stron" academic focus, but tends to lack in the community focus areas. Anchor Bay 7i"h School as once located in Chesterfield, !ichi"an on Su"arbush 8oad, but has since mo,ed to 9air 7a,en, !ichi"an. #he school as mo,ed after school district ,oters $assed a :&&(.million bond in &*** to build a ne hi"h school and make other u$"rades to area schools. #he relocated school, no on County Line 8oad, o$ened Au"ust 2(, 200+. ;hen o$ened it as the lar"est hi"h school in !ichi"an, and the fourth lar"est in the nation at o,er /*(,000 square feet. Anchor Bay 7i"h School has many state of the art facilities inside includin" a *00 $erson auditorium, simulated hos$ital rooms for the health occu$ation classes, and ad,anced scientific labs throu"hout the buildin" for the science courses. #he hi"h school does not, ho e,er, ha,e a $ool. #he district has a lar"e community aquatic center that is a,ailable for all Anchor Bay Schools s im teams to $ractice in and community members can 0oin for a free or reduced fee. #he aquatic center is located in the center of the district and also contains a fitness center and offers may "rou$ fitness classes for all a"es.

#he Anchor Bay Community is mainly residential ith a fe industriali1ed businesses located ithin Ne Baltimore. Subdi,isions, a$artment housin", and mobile home $arks are located and intert ined bet een the farm areas and industriali1ed businesses. #he area consists of farm orkers and middle.a"ed orkers still em$loyed ithin the ork force. #his is the reason for such a lo $ercenta"e of senior citi1ens located ithin the district< (.2)= of Anchor Bay District citi1ens are a"e (2 and o,er. Anchor Bay School District is hi"hly focused on student achie,ement and academics. #his is e,ident throu"h the im$lementation of certain test.$re$ strate"ies and thorou"h $rofessional de,elo$ment focused on standardi1ed tests. #his standard of educational achie,ement is e4$ected in a community here (2= of all adults ha,e at least "raduated hi"h school ith a di$loma and 2+= ha,e a bachelor6s de"ree >State of !ichi"an, 20&2?. #he family structures in Anchor Bay School District are on $ar ith the state of !ichi"an6s a,era"es. Anchor Bay School District has 2)= sin"le.$arent households ith children com$ared to the +/= of the !ichi"an state a,era"e. @nfortunately, Anchor Bay School District still encom$asses &'= of families that ha,e a less than :2*,*** yearly income. #his leads to rou"hly +0= of students ithin the district ho qualify for free or reduced lunch $ro"rams. #he ethnic com$osition in Ne Baltimore and Anchor Bay Schools is lackin" in di,ersity as *2= of the student body is hite. Anchor Bay 7i"h School reflects this monochromatic $o$ulation ith *&= of the students re$ortin" as hite. #he lar"est minority $ercenta"e in Anchor Bay Schools is ithin the African American $o$ulation hich is at 2=, and Anchor Bay 7i"h School is 0ust abo,e this at a$$ro4imately (=. #he 7is$anic $o$ulation makes u$ about &.(= of the $o$ulation in the district, hile the hi"h school holds a$$ro4imately &.+= of this $o$ulation. #he Asian, American -ndian, and multi.racial $o$ulations both calculate less than &= of the total $o$ulations enrolled ithin the district and at Anchor Bay 7i"h School. #he yearly test scores ha,e become essential elements in $ublic education, and Anchor Bay Schools are maintainin" Aearly Adequate 3ro"ress >AA3? ithin all schools. #he district a,era"e for readin" $roficiency is (+=, ith Anchor Bay 7i"h School6s scores a,era"in" sli"htly hi"her at (2= $roficient. Anchor Bay School District6s math scores ere drastically lo er at 2'= $roficient, hile the hi"h school scored sli"htly hi"her a"ain a,era"in" 2*= $roficient. -t is unfortunate that due to the dis$arity of race ithin the district and hi"h school that only a fe sub"rou$s ere lar"e enou"h to "enerate a combined score in readin" $roficiency and math $roficiency. #he hite student $o$ulation mana"ed to score *&= $roficient in math and readin" ithin the hi"h school and the district o,erall. Students ith disabilities ere (2= $roficient ithin the hi"h school and (*= $roficient ithin the entire district. 9inally, the economically disad,anta"ed students ere *0= $roficient in the hi"h school and '*= $roficient throu"hout the district as a hole.

Currently, there are *+ instructional staff members at Anchor Bay 7i"h School, one $rinci$al, three assistant $rinci$als, three "uidance counselors, t o full time office secretaries, and one full time school secretary. All instructional staff members meet hi"hly qualified status accordin" to state "uidelines. #hese instructional staff members only teach in the areas in hich they are hi"hly qualified. Bf the *+ instructional staff members, a$$ro4imately (0 members ha,e a !aster6s de"ree and none of them $ossess a Doctoral de"ree. #he $rinci$al of the school does contain an Cducational S$ecialist de"ree and a !aster6s de"ree in education. Anchor Bay 7i"h School offers many unique $ro"rams and ser,ices for the students. -n 20&+, the school instilled the 7onors Academy hich is an academy ithin the hi"h school that allo s students to take all ad,anced $lacement and honors classes on a daily schedule. #his $ro"ram as instilled in order to com$ete ith the -nternational Academy $ro"rams that other surroundin" school districts offer their students. -f students do not feel as if they are qualified for all honors and ad,anced $lacement classes, the hi"h school also offers se$arate honors and ad,anced $lacement courses for students to $ick and choose. #he hi"h school facility is one of the most im$ressi,e in the state. 7o e,er, the technolo"y a,ailable ithin the school is less than adequate. Currently, there are only three com$uter labs a,ailable for a school of a$$ro4imately &,*00 students. Accordin" to union contract, a teacher can ha,e as many as +/ students in a sin"le class. #he ma4imum a,ailable number of com$uters in the labs is +0.+2. #herefore, a teacher ho has +/ students in a class ill not ha,e enou"h orkin" com$uters in any lab a,ailable in the buildin". -t is not uncommon for teachers to ne,er use the com$uter labs because there are not enou"h resources. #he school also lacks access to CL!B machines, $ro0ectors, and other 2&st century teachin" technolo"ies. #he most ad,anced technolo"y a,ailable for teachers on a daily basis is one classroom com$uter and an o,erhead $ro0ector that requires trans$arencies. Anchor Bay School District faces many challen"es hen communicatin" ith the surroundin" community. Bne of the bi""est eaknesses is found throu"h the ay e,ents are communicated to the community and the $arents of the students. #he $arents6 main source of information is the school ebsite, hich is run by students and o,erseen by a teacher in a com$uter class. !any announcements and e,ents ne,er make it on the ebsite and $arents ha,e no idea that certain o$$ortunities are a,ailable for their children. Also, the school de$ends on the students to relay messa"es to their $arents and this system has failed tremendously. #o continue, the hi"h school has a state of the art school store run by the students. #he school store is only ran and o$en durin" school hours. A $arent that anted to $urchase a s eatshirt for his child as a "ift came 0ust after the end of a school day and as not allo ed in the store because the students and teacher ho run the store ere una,ailable. #his instance does not $ro,ide the hi"h school ith a friendly and accommodatin" atmos$here. #o continue, the $arents that do come to $arent. teacher conferences seem com$letely una are of any of the o$$ortunities a,ailable or their

student. !any ha,e no idea about the $artnershi$ ith !CC and durin" these hard economic times, a free associate de"ree is somethin" they ant their child to take ad,anta"e of. 9inally, the culture of the school is one that could use some im$ro,ement and ad0ustment. Administration is consistently askin" more and more of the teachers, but refuse to "i,e any lee ay hen an instructor needs somethin" in return. #here is little trust bet een administration and the teachin" staff. #he teachin" staff feels as if they cannot be strai"ht for ard re"ardin" issues in the buildin" ith administration because there ha,e been many instances here this has backfired and been held a"ainst the teachin" staff or teacher. C,aluations are constantly brou"ht u$ and held a"ainst teachers if there is an issue in the buildin". #eachers need to trust administration if administration ants o$en communication ithin its buildin".

8eferences State of !ichi"an, !ichi"an De$artment of Cducation, Center for Cducational 3erformance and -nformation. >20&2?. !i School Data. 8etrie,ed from htt$sD55 .mischooldata.or".