Years of test score gains come to a halt
More kids deemed college-ready,but many also failing state exams
By Lori Higgins Detroit Free Press Education Writer
High school test results released Monday paint a mixed picture of the performance of high school juniors, who took the Michigan Merit Exam and the ACT in the spring.
Their average score on the ACT inched up from 19.6 to 19.7 out of a possible 36 points. The percentage whose scores indicate they are ready for college coursework also rose, from 17.7% to 18.1%.
But the rest of the results were puzzling. After four straight years of gains on the Michigan Merit Exam, or MME — which tests students in math, science, reading, writing and social studies — this year’s group of juniors fell flat.
The percentages of students who passed math (29%), science (26%) and writing (49%) were exactly the same as they were last year. And in the other two subjects, the percentage passing declined. In reading, 54% passed, down two percentage points from last year. In social studies, 39% passed, also down two percentage points.
Overall, the results show a significant number of students are failing the state exams. Reading was the only subject in which more than half of students posted passing marks.
State officials are looking at the lack of improvement as a one-year blip in an otherwise positive multiyear trend. Officials said they analyzed the scores to determine whether there was an apparent reason for the flat and declining scores, but couldn’t find anything.
“There are just times when you see these anomalies,” Michigan Department of Education spokeswoman Jan Ellis said.
State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said fluctuations are normal when comparing different groups of students. But, in a news release issued Monday, he said the results “show the need to continue the state’s strong commitment to high standards.”
More than 104,000 juniors took the battery of high school exams that are given every spring: the ACT, the ACT WorkKeys exam — which assesses workplace-readiness skills — and the MME.
Wendy Zdeb-Roper, executive director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, said the lackluster MME performance likely has little to do with students’ ability and more to do with the importance they place on the ACT, which they can use to get into college.
“There’s much more buy-in,” Zdeb-Roper said.
Flanagan, in the release, said the long-term increase in MME and ACT scores is good news for students, educators and the state.
The college-readiness statistic is an important benchmark Gov. Rick Snyder uses to measure overall improvement in the state’s schools. The ACT defines a student as college-ready with scores of 18 in English, 22 in math, 21 in social studies and 24 in science.
More than 200 schools — some charter schools, some alternative schools and some traditional comprehensive public schools — had zero college-ready students.
Many educators are concerned about the definition of college ready because the high expectation in science is a large part of the reason that the overall percentage of college-ready students is so low.
The college-readiness standards, Zdeb-Roper said, “are incredibly high.” To say they are true determinations of college readiness is misleading, she said.
Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or via Twitter@LoriAHiggins.
Staff writer Kristi Tanner contributed to this report.
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