By Abbey Kwiatkowski
UNDATED – The share of Michigan high schools making progress toward meeting performance goals took a huge jump in 2008-2009 to 71 percent, up 24 percentage points from the previous academic year. The Michigan Department of Education Thursday released the 2009 report card required by the federal "No child left behind" law. A request for more information on why so many high schools did well was left Thursday with the department spokesman. The percentage of schools overall making annual progress in 2008-2009 rose from 80 percent to 86 percent. About 93 percent of elementary schools and 95 percent of middle schools made adequate yearly progress, an increase of
6 percentage points for the middle schools. Schools that don't make adequate progress for 2 straight years wind up on a sanctions list.