Schools

Brace Yourselves: New MEAP Scores Go Public Today

The Michigan Department of Education will release 2011 MEAP results–which feature the state's new cut scores–late Wednesday morning.

Parents of Utica Community Schools children could be in for a bit of a shock today when the Michigan Department of Education releases local schools’ 2011 MEAP results reflecting the state's new cut scores.

In September 2011, the in an effort to better measure “career-and college-ready achievement standards.” Cut scores refer to the results used by schools to determine whether a student is advanced, proficient, partially proficient or not proficient in certain subjects.

When the MDE released a “retrospective look” in November 2011 at how students would have fared on past MEAP exams if the new scoring standards had been in place, UCS didn't escaoe the statewide decline in proficiency levels.

Find out what's happening in Shelby-Uticawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Considered more "rigorous" than previous standards, new cut scores require students to get roughly 65 percent of the answers correct to “pass” the MEAP, instead of the previous benchmark of only 39 percent.

In the "retroactive look" applied to its 2010 MEAP scores, UCS beat statewide math scores with 34 percent of third through ninth grade students scoring proficeient in math. Under the former cut scores, 80-90 percent of students were proficient in math.

Find out what's happening in Shelby-Uticawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We continue to outpace the state and country in academic achievement,” UCS . “We have seen significant growth in the past five years and that makes sense because we have stressed mathematics.”

To view 2010 retroactive scores for all UCS, click here.

State education officials maintain that the new cut scores are a better measure of how well schools are preparing students for success at the next grade level and whether students are progressing at the rate necessary to ensure they are career- and college-ready upon high school graduation.

Along with the scores released today, the MDE will also post past MEAP tests that have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the new cut scores to allow for year-by-year comparison.

To view an updated version with the MEAP scores, click here.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here