Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)
April 2, 2011
HEADLINE: MEAP scores lowering the bar

It's become a familiar ritual: The Michigan Department of Education releases state test scores and everyone celebrates how Michigan children have gotten so much smarter compared to last year.

Thursday was no different when the state released scores on the latest round of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program. The state news release had quotes from Gov. Rick Snyder and State Superintendent Mike Flanagan extolling the importance of high expectations, rigorous performance standards and "an authentic view of where students are academically."

With all due respect, who are they kidding?

Look closely at those MEAP results. About 90 percent of Michigan third-graders were tested as "proficient" in math and reading. Does anybody really think that 90 percent of our third-graders are performing at grade level? Honestly?

Among eighth-graders, 78 percent tested as proficient in math and 82 percent in reading. Which I'm sure comes as a shock to ninth-grade math and English teachers across the state.

If our eighth-graders are performing so well, how do we explain the fact that a quarter of Michigan students who start high school fail to graduate in four years? How do we explain only 16 percent -- 16 percent! -- of Michigan student have ACT test scores that indicate they are fully college-ready by the time they leave high school?

To be clear, the fault here lies not so much with educators, but well-intentioned policymakers on the state and federal level. It's a classic case of the law of unintended consequences: No Child Left Behind mandates state assessment tests and requires states to show steady improvement. That requirement has spurred many states, including Michigan, to lower the "cut" score on their tests -- the percent of correct answers required for passage. Last year, students could pass some MEAP tests even if they got half of the answers wrong.

It would be one thing if this was just a little dance between the state and federal education officials -- a wink, wink, nudge, nudge manuever to fulfill the letter if not the spirit of an unrealistic requirement by lawmakers who have wholly unrealistic expectations of K-12 education.

But many, many people take these scores seriously. There are lots and lots of parents out there who assume their child is doing just fine because they've tested as proficient in the MEAP; lots of schools that figure they're doing a great job because their MEAP passage rates are in the 80s or 90s, ignoring the fact that the state average is the 80s or 90s.

Parents, teachers, school boards, communities take comfort in knowing so many kids are passing the MEAP tests.

And the harsh reality? It's false comfort.

One of the true scandals of K-12 education is the number of kids who graduate high school with a solid academic record -- they've been on the honor roll, they've passed the state assessment tests -- only to find themselves way over their heads in college.

More than 30 percent of college freshman need to take a remedial course in math, reading and/or writing. One out of every three college freshman doesn't return sophomore year. Only about half of students who enter college have a degree within six years.

Those are shocking statistics, and they're all the more shocking in the context of a K-12 system that tells students they're doing great when they're not.

This winter, the Michigan Board of Education pledged to calibrate the MEAP scoring system to make it more honest.

It's none too soon, although it remains to be seen how honest the new scoring system will be.

Flanagan absolutely is right that Michigan students, parents, educators, policymakers and taxpayers deserve an "an authentic view of where students are academically."

But right now, that's not the MEAP.

At a time when everybody recognizes the importance of high expectations in education, MEAP inflation has contributed greatly to setting a low bar.