The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to 
Succeed 
A Critical Review of The Merit and Demerit System at  
MacDowell Preparatory Academy 
 
Oakland University 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

Abstract 
Alan M. Blankstein’s book, published in 2013, ​Failure is Not an Option: Six 

Principles that Advance Student Achievement in Highly Effective Schools 

was used as a tool to critically review the Merit and Demerit System at 

MacDowell Preparatory Academy (MPA) in Detroit, Michigan.  

MPA was found to have strengths in principles 1, 4 and 6. Specific 

evidence of having a strong mission, vision and values that drive systems 

and structures and providing opportunities for teachers to build their own 

leadership capacity is provided. MPA was found to need improvements 

with regard to principles 2, 3 and 6. Specifically speaking to the areas of 

pooling the community together in order to push decision forward and 

also building in tiered interventions for scholar success.  

Introduction 
MacDowell Preparatory Academy (MPA) is a K-8 single-building public 

school academy serving approximately 345 students in Northwest Detroit.   

The curriculum is rigorous, college preparatory, and aligned with the 

common core standards. 

MPA is a Kindergarten through 8th building that has 312  students and 99% 

of the students are African American. The student population is a mixture 

of students residing in and around the school community and students 

from around the city of Detroit.  

The socio economic strata have dramatically decreased in and around 

the school community over the last 20 years.  A vast majority of the 

2
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

students at IPA live in single parent households at or below the poverty 

level.  90% of students are eligible for free and/or reduced lunch. 

 
Principle #1- Common Mission, Vision, Values and Goals 
 
MacDowell Preparatory Academy ​Mission 
The mission of MacDowell Preparatory Academy is to instill in its scholars 
the skill and will to prepare them for success in college and life. 
  
MacDowell Preparatory Academy ​Vision 
MPA scholars maximize their potential and achieve success in every area 
of their lives.  
- Our scholars are excited about their future and own their own 
learning. 
- Our faculty are passionate, knowledgeable and accountable for 
creating an environment where scholars learn. 
- Our parents, guardians and community are actively supporting our 
children’s dreams and the work of the school.  
MacDowell Preparatory Academy ​Values 
Mustangs are M.I.G.H.T.Y. 
M​agnificent Mindset- Remain OPTIMISTIC in the face of challenge.  
I​nvestigative- Approach situations as a PROBLEM SOLVER. 
G​et Great Results- Be RESULTS DRIVEN in every area. 
H​eartfelt Honesty- Display INTEGRITY at all times.  
T​eam and Family- Operate as a FAMILY AND TEAM in order to attain 
desired outcomes.  
un​Y​ielding Resilience- Allow RESILIENCE to empower self and others to 
success.  
 
Principle 1: Common Mission, Vision, Values and Goals 
 
The mission and vision statements were created by the Board of 

Directors, the principal and selected members of the American Promise 

Schools Network team. This happened during the Board’s annual retreat in 

July 2016. This is when American Promise Schools, MPA’s management 

company, officially assumed management of the school. Both the mission 

3
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

and vision statements shape the school culture in a major way, as 

Blankstein (2013) mentions on page 81.  

Our mission and vision statements point to college and life after 

college as a focal point. MPA wants to prepare scholars to be able to 

achieve great things for themselves and the people that they love. In 

order to begin instilling the idea of college in scholars, each classroom is 

named after a college or university. The K-2 classrooms have Big Ten 

college names, 3​rd​ and 4​th​ grade classrooms have Michigan Greats as a 

college theme. The 5​th​ grade classrooms are named after Historically 

Black Colleges and the Middle School classrooms are named after Ivy 

League schools. Each teacher is expected to create a presentation to be 

presented during the first week of school about the college in order to 

build excitement with scholars. Also, in the school setting, classes are 

referred to as the college name, rather than “Section 5A or Section1B”.  

As outlined in Chapter 5, the mission and vision statements answer the 

three questions that are answered by effective statements.  

Examining the larger scope of the Merit and Demerit System at 

MPA, it’s purpose is to instill in scholars the ability to make choices for 

themselves that will set them up to be self-regulated in their behavior. I 

believe that this initiative is in direct correlation with our mission, vision and 

values.  

The goals that have been set for MPA are:  

4
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

- The number of scholars at or above the 50​th​ percentile with respect to the 

NWEA MAP assessment, will increase by 10% for both reading and math in 

grades K-8. 

- 100% of 8​th​ grade scholars will be accepted to a 90/90 high school. (90/90 

means 90% graduation from high school and 90% enrolled into a 4 year 

college or university) 

- 85% of scholars will be retained from Fall to Fall Count Days.  

Principle 2: Ensuring Achievement for All Students: Systems for Prevention 

and Intervention 

As outlined in Chapter 6 of Blankstein’s 2013 book, it is imperative 

that schools ensure that there is success for all students through creating 

and sustaining efficient systems for prevention and intervention. The Merit 

and Demerit system strives to be one of the key systems for prevention 

and intervention for behavior. During the initial launch of the system at the 

Middle School level in January 2017, there was significant planning that 

took place in order to ensure a successful launch. As the launch of the 

system was well-intentioned, there were several challenges in the road. 

For example, some teachers began to use the system as a way to 

manage their classroom, rather than a warning to provide above and 

beyond the classroom management plan. Through documenting these 

challenges, the middle school teams across both campuses were able to 

5
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

come together to right the wrongs of the previous school year. The team 

quickly realized that the students would not strive to meet expectations 

until there was a strong sense of belonging and understanding of the 

larger picture.  

School Community’s Belief System and Overarching Philosophy.  

The launch of professional development in August 2017 for teachers 

centered around “The Big 3”; 1. Academic Hard Skills, 2. Academic Soft 

Skills and 3. Identity, Relevance and Belonging. There is a strong 

connection between “The Big 3” and the Community Circle of Caring in 

Figure 6.4 on p. 125 in Blankstein’s text. “The ultimate goal of the school, 

then, becomes one of creating an environment and culture that meets 

students’ basic needs.” (Blankstein, 2013, p.125) 

Comprehensive Systems for Assuring Success. ​The Advisory 

Dashboard was created in order to provide Advisors with key data points 

that provide a total picture for any given middle school student. The 

components of the dashboard include GPA, attendance data, merit and 

demerit data (quantity and reasons for demerits) and also advisor 

frequency of contact. This tool will allow for teachers/advisors to be able 

to detect issues before they expand. As Blankstein 2013 mentions on p. 

133, good schools ensure that they are able to identify problem areas in a 

timely manner in order for students to be identified before they are in 

danger of failing. While the system itself provides the data points 

6
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

necessary, there needs to be extensive professional development on 

intervention and remediation strategies to reach a variety of learners.  

Principle 3: Collaborative Teaming Focused on Teaching for Learning 

The team at MPA has worked to become more and more of a 

collaborative team focused on teaching for learning for all scholars. 

However, when considering the Merit and Demerit system, this was a 

decision arrived at by our network’s school principals rather than a 

collaborative decision by each team. Blankstein 2013 explains: 

“At the school level, defining and agreeing on purpose begins with 

the leadership team and continues throughout each school team. The 

same is true for the purpose of the team itself.” (p. 145) 

Since the MPA Leadership Team set the course of action on instilling in 

scholars the self-regulation element while holding scholars accountable 

for their actions, the Merit /Demerit system meets those requirements.  

One of the strengths of how we do things at MPA is that there are 

protocols and procedures in place for how teachers meet, how often and 

the content covered in the meetings. Focusing on the glows, grows and 

wonderings of how the merit/demerit system is working for scholars and 

staff is a regular occurrence. According to Blankstein 2013 are specific 

data, trusting, structured and intensive conversations, commitment to 

action and evaluation of outcomes from actions. (p. 147-148) 

7
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

Staff has the opportunity to review specific data points that show 

how many merits/demerits scholars have earned and what scholars are 

earning the merits/demerits for. For example, the network has established 

a special “task force” that focuses on self-regulation and restorative 

practices. Teachers and administrators are a part of this team.  

Principle 4: Data-based decision making for continuous improvement 

Data is merely numbers and percentages until you add in the 

human understanding and interpretation of the information collected 

(Blankstein, 2013). It is imperative that those involved in using the data 

collected are able to use it effectively to review and plan for success. 

MPA has what is called an “Advisory Dashboard”. This tool is used to 

capture a set of data points that each advisor is able to easily access in 

order to set goals with scholars and monitor progress using hard data. The 

data points on the dashboard are current grades and current GPA, NWEA 

MAP data, total number of merits and demerits with the reasons for 

demerits named and parent contact log pulled directly from 

Powerschool. This is a powerful snapshot into not only academic progress 

of scholars, but also into the behavioral piece as well. This is a new tool 

that has been rolled out this year and I believe that it is placing our team 

on the path to success. By setting goals related directly to academic and 

behavioral data, this will allow for scholars to see improvement and have 

the right idea for how much they are able to improve.  

8
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

Blankstein 2013 mentions the guidelines for data quality. They are: 

1. Multi Sourced Data 

2. Relevant Data 

3. Timely Data 

4. Consistent Data (p. 174-175) 

The data on the Advisory Dashboard is not only multi sourced, but also 

relevant and timely .By using the NWEA MAP assessment as a source of 

data, this makes the comparison consistent in that the same assessment is 

being tracked over time, and also, provides data to be used for data to 

be tracked year to year.  

The concerns about data as a tool to make decisions is that there 

are limited opportunities to compare our data with that of the other 

school’s in our network on a frequent basis. Since this initiative was 

established to be across all of the network’s schools, taking time to identify 

trends and brainstorm solutions to common issues or problems is desired 

from the team.  

Principle 5: Gaining Active Engagement From Family and Community 

In order for any school to see success, a partnership with a student’s 

family and community is essential. By having all stakeholders present and 

engaged, students are able to reach their maximum potential. As 

Blankstein (2013) explains, this does not mean that they need to be at the 

school volunteering heavily and frequently visiting the classrooms of their 

9
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

students. “Rather, it means they play an active role in the home 

reinforcing the importance of learning and the value of education for 

their child.” (p.189)  

The Advisory Dashboard, again, which houses merit/demerit data 

for behavior, also provides the academic snapshot. This Dashboard is 

provided to families bi-weekly in order to keep all stakeholders informed of 

a student’s progress. For example, a student’s family came up to the 

school because they noticed that their child was not doing well in Math 

and Social Studies. On the Dashboard Report, the parent was very well 

able to see where her student was struggling and communicated with the 

school in order to get her child the assistance she needs to be successful. 

The Advisor was able to call and provide the family with strategies to use 

in the home, as well as accountability measures for the student to build 

independence with completing assignments and checking in with 

teachers. As Blankstein (2013) notes, effective schools are places where 

teachers and administrators go the extra mile to ensure the success of the 

children who attend their school. (p. 199) 

There is also a clear expectation for communication from Advisors 

and from the administration. Using the MTSS framework, students with 

failing grades and escalated behavior are identified. The family is kept in 

the loop and provided resources to assist in the items their child needs.  

10
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

Principle 6: Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity 

A distinct feature of our Network is that they believe in taking those 

that are in our schools, coaching them and providing a variety of 

opportunities to become leaders within the school, and the Network 

at-large. A prime example of this is the Special Forces Committees. 

Teacher leaders are selected to attend monthly meetings focused around 

key areas. One of the focus areas is Advisory. Advisory is a practice we 

utilize where teachers are the first point of contact for both scholars and 

families in the school community. There is dedicated time set aside each 

day to meet with designated Advisory teams. The content covered has to 

do with the soft skills students need to be successful. For example, 

engaging in debate, analyzing quotes and expanding vocabulary 

through exposure and setting meaningful goals around academics and 

behavior. It is the identified teacher-leaders who identify what is going 

well with Advisory and how it needs to be improved. As Blankstein (2013) 

explains,  

“We argue that sustainable educational leadership and 

improvement preserves and develops deep learning for all that 

spreads and lasts, in ways that do not harm to and indeed create 

positive benefits for others around us, now and in the future. 

(Hargreaves & Fink, 2005)” 

11
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

While the Merit/Demerit system itself does not provide an opportunity for 

building leadership capacity, as it is a tool that is used for norming 

expectations, it certainly folds into the greater work of the tool of Advisory 

to help to shape students both academically and socially.  

The concept of Distributed Leadership that Blankstein (2013) mentions, is 

the optimal approach to leadership in our building when it comes to 

leading the charge for Merits/Demerits. Not only should this be the 

expectation for this particular system, but also for how any items are 

distributed appropriately for sustainability of the team. (p. 222-223) 

Conclusion 

Utilizing Blankstein’s book ​Failure is Not an Option: Six Principles that 

Advance Student Achievement in Highly Effective Schools​ (2013) was an 

effective tool to use for critiquing the Merit and Demerit System at MPA. 

Not only were their areas of strength uncovered, but also areas of 

development and growth. Both of these prove to be helpful and 

informative as the system itself is reworked for maximum effectiveness.  

Positive Findings.​ The Merit and Demerit system is found to be 

rooted and grounded in the larger mission, vision and values of the school 

at-large. The system exists in order to instill in scholars the skill and will to be 

successful in college and in life. Also, the specific data points that are 

provided around Merits and Demerits are helpful for Advisors to keep an 

informed pulse on how their classes are doing. Not only with regard to 

12
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

behavior, but also with regard to academics as well. After all, the reason 

for providing Merits for outstanding behavior or choices and Demerits for 

poor behavior or choices is in service of have scholars be academically 

ready for the challenges they will face in high school and college.  

Recommendations.​ The Merit and Demerit System at MPA can be 

improved in various ways. With regard to planning more thoroughly for 

academic and behavior interventions, a more structured approach for 

this should be established. This will allow for Advisors to take the data 

being presented a step further in order to provide scholars with targeted 

interventions in service of their progress. Also, building capacity at a 

greater level for teachers is necessary. Though implementation of the 

Merit and Demerit System allows for this component to exist, more 

ownership from the team will make the system flourish and be the best 

tool it can be for our scholar’s success.  

13
 
The Merit and Demerit System: Instilling in Scholars the Skill and Will to Succeed 

References 

Blankstein, A.M. (2013). ​Failure is not an option: 6 principles that advance  

student achievement in highly effective schools.​ Thousand Oaks, 

CA: Corwin. 

14