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The city of Detroit, in the USA, was once compared to Paris. It had a broad river, grand boulevards and historically significant architecture. Then, in the 20th century, it became 'Motor City'. For a time, most of the world's cars were made here. There was steady work and a good salary in the motor industry. An autoworker could own a home, plus a boat, maybe even a holiday cottage. Some say America's middle class was born in Detroit - new highways certainly made it easy for workers to move from the city centre to the suburbs in the 1950s. But in the early years of the 21st century, Detroit became America's poorest big city.

In less than five decades, the once vibrant Motor City lost more than half its population. It gained a reputation as a failed city, full of abandoned buildings, widespread poverty and crime. Newspapers and magazines told stories of derelict homes and deserted streets. Photographers even went especially to Detroit to record the strange beauty of buildings and city blocks where nature was taking over again. What went wrong in Detroit?

The city is now 69th in population density (people per square mile) among US cities. Detroit's population fell for several reasons. Partly it was because people moved to the suburbs in the 1950s. Then there were devastating race riots in 1967, which scared even more people away from the city. Then there was the dramatic decline in car manufacture as companies like General Motors and Chrysler struggled to survive. And finally, in 2008, came the global financial crisis. The problem of Detroit was basic but hard to solve. Many of Detroit's people are poor: half of the city's households live on less than 25,000 dollars a year. They are spread across different neighbourhoods of this huge city (it's big enough to fit in Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco).

In 2013, the city did something unusual: it declared itself bankrupt. It was the largest city bankruptcy in US history, estimated at 18-20 billion dollars. Now that the city is free of debt, it has money to do some of what needs to be done. It has replaced about 40,000 streetlights so that places feel safer. Police response time has shrunk from almost an hour to less than 20 minutes. And roughly a hundred empty houses are demolished each week to make space for new buildings. With the nation's biggest urban bankruptcy behind it, Detroit is also attracting investors, innovators and young adventurers. New businesses have been encouraged with the New Economy Initiative. This gave grants of 10,000 dollars to each of 30 winners with ideas for small businesses. It seems that every week a new business opens in Detroit - grocery stores, juice bars, coffee shops, even bicycle makers. Finally, the city is working again.

Glossary
boulevard (n) a wide street, usually with trees along the sides
derelict (adj) completely in ruins
race riot (n) violent public actions between groups of people with different racial identities
bankrupt (adj) unable to stay in business because of debts

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The city of Detroit, in the USA, was once compared to Paris. It had a broad river, grand boulevards and historically significant architecture. Then, in the 20th century, it became 'Motor City'. For a time, most of the world's cars were made here. There was steady work and a good salary in the motor industry.

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By Alexandra Smith

Updated first published at

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Home-schooled students perform "significantly better" in almost all NAPLAN tests than students in mainstream schools and they do as well as their peers in HSC English, new research from the state's exam board reveals.

A NSW Board of Studies' analysis found the average NAPLAN scores of students who were educated at home were about 70 marks higher than the NSW average, particularly in reading, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy.

Home-schooled students scored about 40 marks higher in spelling and 20 in writing.

Students who were previously home-schooled but were now studying in a classroom also scored "significantly higher" in the reading and grammar and punctuation tests than the NSW average, while in HSC 2 unit English (advanced and standard), there was no statistically significant differences between students who had been home-schooled and the average results for the whole HSC cohort.

The analysis looked at students who were currently home-schooled or had previously been educated at home and sat NAPLAN between 2008 and 2013.

But the report warned that the research had major "short-comings" because only about 10 per cent of all students who are home-schooled voluntarily sit the NAPLAN tests.

The number of children taught at home in NSW has been ballooning each year, rising from 2802 students in 2012 to 3343 last year. But the number of home-schooled students could be much higher after the state's first parliamentary inquiry into home-schooling in 2014 heard many parents do not register their children with the Board of Studies.

Rebecca English, a lecturer in education at Queensland University of Technology, said the data had a "self-selecting bias" because only a small proportion of home-schooled students do the standardised tests.

"But the fact that they have done so well is incredible and I think this shows how well parents are doing despite the cultural opposition to home education," Dr English said.

Karleen Mercer, a home-schooling parent, said although the sample was small, the results showed home-schooling does have positive academic outcomes.

"This shows that home-educated children can do as well as kids in school and you don't have to be a teacher for your kids to do well," Ms Mercer said.

The research, a recommendation from the parliamentary inquiry, was released last month after a home-schooling parent obtained it under freedom of information laws.

A spokesman for the Board of Studies said the report was tabled at the January meeting of the home-schooling consultative committee, which was also established as a recommendation of the inquiry.

"BOSTES would encourage all parents who are home schooling their children to have them sit the NAPLAN tests so they can benchmark progress and ensure any future research is based on statistically valid numbers," the spokesman said.

"While more than 3000 students are registered for home schooling in NSW, only students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 would be eligible to sit the NAPLAN tests, and only a small percentage of them actually sit the tests," the spokesman said.

"The research noted that students who do sit the tests are doing well but the numbers from the research are too small for any conclusions to be made about the findings."

Alexandra Smith is the State Political Editor and a former Education Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald

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Home-schooled kids perform better in NAPLAN: report

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By Alexandra Smith Updated first published at Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Home-schooled students perform "significantly better" in almost all NAPLAN tests than students in mainstream schools and they do as well as their peers in HSC English, new research from the state's exam board reveals.