Glen Lake deemed among top 1,000 schools in America

By Nadine Gilmer
Sun contributor
It isn’t well known that Glen Lake Community Schools, nestled in the hills east of the Glen Lakes, made the list of the top 1,000 schools in the country. Even the secondary principal, Kevin Kelly says, “I didn’t even know about it until I was driving to work one day and I heard it on the radio.” Students, as well, were surprised to hear from their teachers that their collective efforts had been recognized. They hadn’t recalled being inspected or entering a contest. That’s because the schools were ranked by U.S. News & World Report, using freely available information about schools nationwide. Even more surprising is that nearby Frankfort and Leland both made it onto the list of top schools as well, which, Kelly calls, “amazing.”

All three schools were awarded bronze medals. Only the top 505 schools in the country received gold or silver medals — 3 percent of the original 18,790 schools analyzed. The top 6 percent (1,086 schools) were awarded bronze medals, including Glen Lake, Frankfort and Leland. Just think of that, three schools in our area placed among the top 6 percent of schools in the country. Although Glen Lake, Frankfort, and Leland are all public schools, some private schools were also thrown into the mix. Almost all schools except those with religious affiliations were ranked by “a very complicated formula they use to determine scores for all the schools in the country,” says Kelly.
U.S. News & World Report creates a score for each school it analyzes, based on statistics from the school, which are then plugged into an equation to spit out a “magic number” that determines if the school meets certain criteria. Included are the student body’s American College Testing (ACT), Michigan Educational Assessment Plan (MEAP), Michigan Merit Examination (MME) and PLAN test scores, the graduation rate, the number of students enrolled in Advanced Placement classes and the amount of money spent per student per year. All the statistics included were from the previous school year.
What has Glen Lake done to merit this award? “Our lower class sizes are probably the number one contributor,” believes Kelly. “It can be very rewarding for the teachers to have enough time with each student. Also, Glen Lake’s average ACT scores have been going up consistently each year, which is one of the categories looked at by U.S. News & World Report.” But one specific change that Kelly introduced to the secondary school may have a big impact on the student body’s performance.
Last year, Academic Service Centers (ASCs) were introduced to the school day. The ASC is a half-hour block in the middle of the school day that students are given to catch up on homework and ask questions of their teachers. They sign up the week beforehand for which teacher’s room they want to visit and go there for help. Also, the teachers in each room alternate so that they get a break every other day for curriculum planning and catching up on their own work. And when the teachers are not available, several student tutors from Glen Lake’s chapter of the National Honor Society are there to help. The ASCs give students time to do their homework in school and receive the help they need.
But credit should be attributed where credit is due, says Kelly, who feels that the school’s success results from “the dedication of the teaching staff and how they never seem to be satisfied. No matter how good we do, they always want to get better.” Their hard work and relentless ambition has finally paid off in the form of nationwide recognition.
Nadine Gilmer is a junior at Glen Lake School and a frequent contributor to the Glen Arbor Sun.