Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > September > 25 > Entry
The Kalamazoo Promise: Signs of success
How dramatically can a college scholarship program affect a city? Consider what a 10-month-old Promise program has done in Kalamazoo, Mich.:
Move-ins: New families from 30 states and 50 other Michigan communities have relocated to the city.
Housing: Through Aug. 1, home prices and home sales both were up 6 percent over the prior year while in the region prices were up just 1 percent and sales dropped 4 percent.
Enrollment: It’s up by more than 900 this fall — twice what was estimated — a gain of nearly 10 percent in a school district that had lost 2,000 students over 10 years.
Transfers and dropouts: In 2004, 265 students left the district between the first and second semesters. Last year, just 21 left.
College: Of 400 graduates eligible for the scholarships, 350 used them for college this fall and another 21 went to college by other means.
Local Impact: Of those 350 scholarship users, 70 percent enrolled at the local state school — Western Michigan University.
Minorities: Nationally, 57 percent of black high school graduates went to college in 2005. Last year, 82 percent of black male grads in Kalamazoo went to college using the Promise and 93 percent of black females.
Sources: Kalamzoo Promise, Greater Kalamazoo Board of Realtors, Kalamazoo Public Schools
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