West Bloomfield Superintendent Pleased with MEAP Results

Parents, students and the community may be startled by  locally and statewide, but West Bloomfield School District officials are pleased. 

Officials were told last year that the – the passing scores that distinguish between whether a student is advanced, proficient, partially proficient or not proficient in certain subjects.

In West Bloomfield, the percentage of students who tested at or above proficient dropped dramatically from results in 2010 due to the new cut scores, particularly in social studies and science. The weakest point in West Bloomfield's 2011 scores was in fifth-grade science, where only 23.9 percent of students scored at or above proficient. That's a 7.8 percent drop from 2010, with new cut scores factored in.

At a meeting with parents Thursday morning, Superintendent JoAnn Andrees acknowledged the decline and in science and social studies and vowed for improvement. Still, she said she was pleased with gains in reading and math.

"I'm looking forward to going to your schools and telling your students how proud I am of them," she said.

West Bloomfield's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, Robert Martin noted that when adjusted for new cut scores, West Bloomfield students in grades 3-8 improved at every grade level in reading and math, except for eighth-grade and third-grade math.

"I'm very pleased with (reading and math) scores, because those are a great focus for the district and it's important to see growth as opposed to stagnation. Frankly, No Child Left Behind has forced us to put those subjects as a priority, so I think what you’re seeing is some of the fallout from science and social studies not having equal footing," Martin said.

In comparison, West Bloomfield schools generally finished slightly and slightly in the areas of math and reading. Martin added that parents should exercise caution as, although MEAP scores are widely reported in media and discussed by the community, they are not generally considered a bellwether by school administrations.

"As far as the drops in scores are concerned, we're tracking with everyone else," Martin said. "The MEAP test is one test over one day. We use multiple assessments."

Social studies and science scores a concern

The biggest drop took place in ninth-grade social studies, with a 13.7 percent drop from 2010 to 31 percent. That's the only score lower than the state average in that category.

Martin said that the drop could be in explained in part by a new set of textbooks used by eighth-grade social studies students which were purchased two years ago. As the test takes place in the fall, ninth-graders are largely expected to rely on skills and information learned in their previous grade.

"In the third year, we’ll see the benefit of new resources and cirriculum," Martin said.

Martin added that at an elementary level, changes are being made to instruction in order to use the content of social studies and science lessons as part of the core of reading curriculum, so that reading is less of a standalone subject.