Adult Education-West Campus exemplifies that education is ageless
SPECIAL TO MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
There are no shortcuts, but plenty
of paths to success and wraparound
support, at Detroit Public Schools’
Adult Education-West Campus
Like schools across DPS, this educational facility has storyboards of
recent graduations with photos of successful students who have completed
the program.
• Data walls demonstrating academic
progress are on the walls of every
classroom.
• A code enforcing appropriate behavior is posted for prominent viewing.
• On Career Day, there’s a presentation from a Tuskegee Airman.
• The classrooms are centers of differentiated instruction.
• There are nutritional offerings. And
students get free bus passes.
But inside this solid brick, nicely
remodeled building facing Puritan Ave.
in northwest Detroit, the students
in the photos are all over 18 (one, 80
years old), the data walls paint progress toward GED and high school
completion programs, the Rules and
Protocols replace the traditional K-12
Student Code of Conduct, and the food
service is provided as a partnership
with the Salvation Army Harbor Light
Center.
Get Ahead. Get Inspired. Get Hired.
There are no shortcuts to Life’s Greatest Achievements, that’s the message
on a wall in Room 109, which reflects
the mission of the school’s leadership
and that of the administration of Detroit Public Schools’ Adult Education
Department.
At the Adult Education-West Campus in the former Crary Elementary School, it’s pretty simple: They’re
changing lives, and building and rebuilding confidences. Longtime DPS
educator Dedria Willis, who has held
the position as principal of this school
for exactly one year, tells the stories
she’s learned about every member
of her ethnically-, age- and background-diverse student body. Among
those:
The 80-year-old student who became a graduate in 2012 after pur-
suing his GED for years, delayed by
segregation at first and later family responsibilities.
The husband and wife team that
dropped out of school to raise their
family and later returned to earn their
GED together.
The Vietnam-era veteran who had
not realized that he had indeed earned
his GED several decades ago, but completed the program here and still celebrated the accomplishment as if it was
the first time.
“There’s a lot of motivation needed,
from their teachers and their peers.
Many of these students have not been
in the classroom for a long time,” Willis says.
Adult Education features a GED
program offering classes in four core
content areas for individuals testing
in at a 6th-12th grade level, and a high
school completion program in core areas for those testing at a 5th grade or
lower, as well as a high school completion lab.
With the addition last month of
the new DPS Adult Career Academy
program one mile away at Randolph
Career and Technical Center, the first
cohort of 25 students completing the
program here is now additionally receiving training in the construction
trades — HVAC, carpentry, electrical
and masonry.
The Career Academy is designed to
assist recent Adult Education graduates with opportunities to further their
career growth through career and technical training. Upon successful completion, students will be prepared to
become employed making 60% of journeyman’s wages through apprenticeship schools or enter post-secondary
community colleges and universities.
Adult Ed West currently serves
about 250 students during the day,
another 75 in evening programs beginning at 4 p.m., and more than 22 High
School Completion students (HSC).
Willis describes the atmosphere in
the building each evening as “quieter,
even businesslike” as many of those
students arrive after working a day job.
At 5:15 p.m. on a recent Wednesday,
adult students attentively followed
math instructor Kenneth McDonald.
Above the competition
Unlike other providers, DPS adult
education programs are completely
free, including books, supplies and
transportation passes. And when it’s
time to complete the program, students receive a free voucher to take
the GED test. Four graduates each
year receive scholarships from Detroit
Metropolitan Credit Union.
Moreover, there’s a synergy with the
educational talent elsewhere across
the school district, with the new transitional program to the Career Academy as an example. Adult Education
also provides English as a Second
Language programs and a range of additional services to 1,200+ students
at 14 (soon to be 16) accessible community sites located throughout the
district including those at Academy of
the Americas, Bennett, Ronald Brown,
Earhart, Gardner, Golightly CTC, Neinas, Priest and Western International.
The West Campus, like its East
Campus counterpart in the former
Richard Elementary School, underwent extensive facility modernization
in 2012 and is a hub with many partnerships where additional services
are provided onsite. Detroit’s Employment Solutions Corp. will soon occupy
some former classrooms at the West
Campus.
Investing in the future, and a potential student body of 216,000
According to Adult Education Interim Executive Director Mark Carter,
these programs are about investing in
the city.
“Right now in Detroit, there are
216,000 adults without a high school
diploma or GED. We are investing in
the human capital of the city. When
they complete this program, they can
land a job. When they have a job, they
pay taxes. Then the tax base increases
and we can work to redevelop the city.”