Good Schools: Making the Grade is a community effort to identify and replicate good schools, whether they are public, charter, religious or private. Skillman wants good schools for all kids where children acquire the skills necessary to reach their full potential and lead productive lives.

Much effort has been put into determining just what makes a good school. What the Foundation has found is that good schools everywhere seem to share many of these characteristics:

There are many Detroit schools doing a good job educating their students and preparing them for work and for college. It's a story that anyone with an interest in Detroit needs to know.

The Good Schools: Making the Grade initiative has, in the past four years, developed and implemented an application process to identify and recognize Good Schools in Detroit. Schools are invited, on an annual basis, to participate in the application process that uses nine indicators of student and school success to help identify Good Schools. Marygrove College provides technical assistance to the program through the Good Schools Resource Center. The Resource Center provides technical assistance to schools throughout the application process and coordinates application submission and site visits.

The process begins with using two indicators — student achievement and student attendance data — to determine which category a school may apply in. For details on the High Performing, Improving and Aspiring categories, click on Apply Now for a sample application form.

Grantwriting workshops are organized by the Good Schools Resource Center to help School Leadership Teams complete the application package. Each Leadership Team should consist of a diverse representation of the school community — parents, teachers, administrators, business leaders, community leaders, etc. The team completes the application's self-assessment which reflects progress in seven indicators of school success. The seven indicators include leadership & education vitality; data driven decision making, challenging curriculum & instruction, student focus & support, school organizations & culture, professional community, schools, family & community partnerships.

All applications are reviewed by a team drawn from the task force, advisory board, Foundation and Resource Center staff. The student achievement data are verified in advanced and each application is reviewed by a three person review panel. A consensus recommendation is made on whether the school should continue the process to the site visit phase.

All recommendations are then reviewed by a panel and final decisions made on the schools to be visited. A diverse group of volunteers is recruited, trained and then sent out in teams to visit the selected schools. The site visit provides an opportunity to obtain clarification on information provided in the written application.

A final review to discuss and compare the scores of each school's Schools Grant application and site visit ends with consensus recommendations to the Foundation on appropriate recognition for each school. These recommendations are made to the board of trustees for adoption and official recognition of Good Schools each year.

Applications for the 2008-2009 school year are currently under review, and awards will be announced in May 2008.