Renaissance High School

As a parent of a Renaissance High School student, my overall impression of this school is based off of my direct exposure to the faculty, staff, and other students. The faculty are highly credentialed and capable of providing premier instruction for the students. However, the combination of unmotivated students and disinterested faculty have created an environment of mediocrity. The curriculum that is offered is comparable to other college preparatory institutions (both private and public), yet it is solely the student's desires and efforts that will determine their success and knowledge acquired. Although high school begins that transition for students from having their hand held to becoming more responsible for themselves, they still need to be motivated and encouraged to excel and unfortunately the faculty at this school just does not offer that. Over the years, the GPA requirement to retain matriculation at Renaissance has been relaxed and is now as low as 2.50. The standards have fallen and so has the desire to be elite. Our children will not succeed in a competitive environment if the standard is BELOW average.
--Submitted by a parent

As a student who attends Renaissance I will tell you that everything is not what it seems. We're pressured more than you can imagine. All they care about right now is beating Cass Tech in scores and making sure we keep our rank as number one instead of actually teaching us. Some teachers play favoritism with grades so you could have an A paper but since they don't like you they'll give you an F. We're taught things that will be on the SAT and ACT we skip most of the chapters in our books so when we get to college we have to take repetitive classes because we skipped most of things which causes more stress on students. Even though all DPS schools are struggling with books we have Netbooks in our school and we don't use them. Our desks were specifically made for laptops and Netbooks but we don't use them. Since most classes ran short of books we just sit in class and do nothing. The teachers don't realize the stress they put on us I've had 6 panic attacks in school because I haven't had enough sleep and I forgot to do a project or paper and our library is rarely open. I chose this school because I heard it was one of the best schools out there...WRONG!!!!!
--Submitted by a student

I am a parent of a Renaissance student and I must say since their freshman year to their current junior year, Renaissance High school has changed tremendously. The classrooms are overcrowded, there are not enough books, nor counselors. This is suppose to be a college prep school, yet there are only two counselors for the entire school. Next year will be even worse. The principal is leaving, the entire staff has received layoff notices and no one is prepping the kids for college, they are on their own. We have been told that there could be as many as 48 to 55 students in each classroom and they may become an open school, meaning you will not have to test to get in. I have not decided if my child will finish their senior year here or not, but I must say I am very disappointed in Renaissance high school it's not all that and the teachers truly act like they don't care. Parent teacher conferences are a joke, the sign clearly says five minutes per parent or make a meeting but the staff allows parents to hold up lines for forty-five minutes with no regards to the others parents that are waiting to see them. I do not recommend this school for future students.
--Submitted by a parent

As a former graduate (1998), I cannot really speak to the state of the school now. I can only say that I definitely do feel that the school prepared me quite well for college. When I went there, there were accelerated academic tracks within the college prep curriculum for students who were especially gifted in one or more areas. The teachers were inspiring (for the most part). They encouraged and prepared us to take Advance Placement courses and, if no class was available, some teachers stayed after hours to tutor us for the AP test. I took AP English and AP European History (with a teacher who was amazing!!), and studied afterhours for AP Macroeconomics, and got sufficient scores on all three tests, so that I had 9 college credit hours before I even applied to the university I ended up graduating from. I highly endorse Renaissance as a truly excellent DPS school (at least, the 1994--1998 version of the school).

I am wondering about weither I should go to Cass Technical High School or Renaissance .If anyone could be so helpful and reply and tell me about your expeirence with Renaissance.Thank You

My daughter graduate from Renaissance in 2010. She came from a scholar middle school but once she started Renaissance her gpa went from a 4.00 to well below 2.5 her 1st year. My daughter clean up her act the following year with the threat of getting kick out of this school. Once she made it to her senior year she look at her transcript and was embrass. Luckily she she did very well after her freshman year and was able to get into a excellent college with a scholarship. As a parent that attended every parent conference spoke with the counslor and prinicpal a lot over the years they are all excellent including the teache's. This is a College prep school and just have to work on being prepared,
--Submitted by a parent

honestly, Renaissance has become more of a regular DPS high school. we don't have books. the teachers dont teach as much. they expect too much of us without actually caring. ever since i got into Renaissance, my grades have went from 3.6+ to 2.4 and why? because the teachers expect everyone to catch on as much as other students and don't push us to do our work. threating to kick us out is not good, is pressuring and stressful. we're kids, we don't need stress at this age. i won't be attending it next year hopefully and i don't advise anyone to go there.
--Submitted by a student

It breaks my heart to see the low level that one of Detroit's "premier" high schools is coming to. Renaissance is known as being one of the best high schools in Detroit, but based on my experiences this year with the faculty and students at this school, I know first hand that is not true. The counselors and principals are extremely unhelpful and uncaring, and the students are just as bad. They've enrolled so many students that they don't even have adequate amounts of BASIC school supplies to provide to the students (e.i. textbook, ink for the teachers, ect.). I've encountered many staff member who themselves recognize the all-time low standards for Renaissance's students, and are concerned about the future of Renaissance and the reputation of the school. Renaissance has been able to distinguish itself from the other schools in the city and has broken the "DPS Norm" for its schools, but this school is RAPIDLY beginning to become just your other DPS school, and it doesn't seem as if anyone is concerned with changing that any time soon.
--Submitted by a parent

Renaissance High School is definately a challenging school. As a current junior at this school I must say that this is definately one of Detroit's finest educational facilities. The only problem I have with Renaissance is that they are steadily lowering their standards and letting anyone into the school. This makes our school look bad because these students come in here freshmen year and get kicked out because their GPA is too low. Another problem I have with Renaissance is that they do not prepare you as a senior or junior on deciding what college you want to go to. They do have a room with flyers from colleges but teachers do not directly help you in college searches. Other than these things, I believe Renaissance is a good school!
--Submitted by a student

Renaissance is not the friendliest school to attend. If your student cannot hold themselves than it would not be the best choice because help is not available.Safety was not the best. You always hear the good things never the realistic issues with the school.
--Submitted by a parent