Livingston Technical Academy keeps talented students in the Howell-Brighton area. All graduates have secured jobs or enrolled full-time in college. One local company is funding a graduate's university tuition. One half of the 1999 graduates sought further technical education. Others enter four-year colleges as sophomores or juniors.
Urban schools feature strict discipline, individual attention and positive environments.
Forty of the state's 173 charter public schools are located in Detroit. At Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse in Detroit, students explore the world and their own minds and personalities. They learn that being African-American is a normal part of life. At Sankofa Shule in Lansing, parents, students and teachers sign agreements to hold each other accountable for producing academically competent, behaviorally confident and socially conscious young people. Fifty percent of 1999 graduates went on to further technical education.