The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) accountability movement reinforces the need for policymakers to develop plans for improving student performance and narrowing achievement gaps using academic standards. Under the NCLB, states were faced with mandatory achievement requirements, but the federal government allowed flexibility in the requirements since 2012. Michigan received a waiver and has pursued policy programs to close the achievement gaps through its own accountability policies which included designating the 10% of schools with the widest achievement gaps as Focus Schools. These gaps are measured by the difference in the test scores of the top 30% of high-performing and the bottom 30% of low-performing groups of students. This study seeks to identify the characteristics and related attributes of Focus Schools to deal with closing achievement gaps. Specifically, research question 1 is “Which schools are more likely to be tagged as Focus Schools?” Research question 2 is “Which Focus Schools are successfully able to narrow achievement gaps?” Three dimensions of school characteristic variable sets — school, student, and community — are utilized to answer these research questions. School-level characteristics include charter schools, grade level, Title I status, achievement level, class and enrollment size, and teacher evaluation data. Student characteristics refer to race/ethnicity ratio, English learners, economically disadvantaged student ratios, students with disabilities, and student mobility rates. Community characteristics convey locale, median household income, and Gini-index. I used school-level administrative data and Census data from 2012, the year in which Michigan began identifying Focus Schools, to 2016, which is the most recent data available, to develop these three dimensions of variables. I used logit analysis, discrete-time hazard analysis, and predicted value analysis for RQ 1, and cumulative logit analysis and a discrete-time survival model for RQ 2. The multiple approaches provided complementary information for analyzing the research questions. Results indicated that Focus School characteristics are similar to those of high-performing schools, even though non-White student share and Gini-index presented as slightly higher in both 2012 and 2016. In 2016, Focus Schools were likely to be located in suburban and rural areas than urban areas. In addition, Focus School students’ achievements dropped significantly from 2012 to 2016. The analysis of RQ 2 showed that school locale significant factors in narrowing achievement gaps among Focus Schools. It also indicated that it is difficult for high schools and schools with high Gini-index or large class size to exit the status, and that high performing schools were negatively related to Focus School recurrence or duration. Based on my findings, this study suggests that Focus School interventions require more resources for unequally distributed communities, long-term plans to maintain achievement levels, and differentiated approaches by grade level and school locale.
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