New Scores Show BHS Students Would Slide in Standardized Tests

Bloomfield Hills Schools students continued to outpace the state average in proficiency of every category of the Michigan Merit Exam. Or did they?

According to data released by The Michigan Department of Education student averages at Andover, Lahser and the International Academy would fluctuate a bit if new requirements implementd by the state would have been in place.

The department's “retrospective look” at how students would have fared on past MEAP and MME exams if new cut scores were in place show a major decline in student scores across the state in math, reading, science and social science.

In third-grade math, for instance, scores in 2010, go from 95 percent proficient to 35 percent when measured against the new cut scores.

Science scores at both Andover and Lahser would appear to have the biggest decline, with 29 percent of students showing not proficient, according to the data. Twenty percent of Andover students and 17 percent of Lahser students would not have been proficient in math.

The only scores to fluctuate downward at the International Academy were in reading, which showed 2 percent of students not proficient.

Officials said the MDE released the past four years data as a way to prepare districts for this year’s results. Jan Ellis, a spokeswoman for the department, said schools can use the information to inform instruction and put in supports and interventions to increase future scores.

The cut scores – the passing scores that distinguish between whether a student is advanced, proficient, partially proficient or not proficient in certain subjects - were adopted by the State Board of Education in September. With the more rigorous cut scores, students need to get roughly 65 percent of the answers correct to “pass” the state test, instead of only 39 percent as was the previous benchmark.

Officials said the tougher standards are needed to get Michigan students on par with others who are college and career-ready. The boost in scores is expected now to give students more than basic understanding of concepts.

“These data will provide educators, parents and communities with a more accurate understanding of what student achievement would have been if the new cut scores had been in place during the past four years,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan in a press release. “These retro-scores can serve as a tool to guide instruction, professional development and student support.”

State officials said the scores released today are for informational purposes only – as a promise kept to administrators to give them an early look at how students would have fared and what areas students

According to the press release: “These retro-scores will not be used to recalculate any school accountability measures such as adequate yearly progress. They provide historical context to prepare for the implementation of new cut scores, beginning with the scores from this fall’s MEAP tests.”

Flanagan explained that the previous standard was based on the very basic knowledge that students needed in the old industrial manufacturing economy – where students could get a high school diploma and go into a factory and get a very good paying job. Those opportunities are mostly gone now, he said, with students needing at least a two-year community college education to compete in the tech-driven, knowledge-based economy of the 21st Century.

“We have to be honest with ourselves about where we are in preparing our kids for the reality of today’s global economy,” Flanagan said. “These updated scores, while they may be difficult to accept, will help lead Michigan forward. Just looking good is not better than being good.”