The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Chelsea gets high marks
MEAP scores better than state averages
By Edward Freundl, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 17, 2008
Chelsea school students continue a track record of scoring high on state tests designed to measure academic progress, outpacing state averages in all areas.
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For the most part, Chelsea's 2007 Michigan Educational Assessment Program scores were either ahead of or within one or two points of the district's 2006 and 2005 results.
There were a few exceptions on some grade-level tests, but nothing that alarmed administrators.
"There were no major surprises," said Andrew Ingall, Chelsea's Director of Curriculum and Instruction.
"We never like it when we see scores dip, but we're not in the quality control industry. Every child is different, and different from year to year."
Students in grades 3 through 9 were tested last fall in different subject areas.
Reading, writing, English language arts and math were tested in grades 3 through 8.
Science was added to the tests in grades 5 and 8.
Social studies was included on the sixth-grade tests, and the only subject on which ninth-graders were tested.
According to Chelsea school officials, parents should resist the temptation to look at the test results as a "competition" between districts.
"Right or wrong, MEAP scores are the tool that people use to compare district to district," said Ingall.
"However, it does give us common ground to compare student achievement."
Ingall and Superintendent David Killips said the district will analyze the results to determine where curriculum can be fine-tuned.
"We can see where our kids fell in sixth grade, compared to fifth and fourth grade in previous years," Killips said.
"That's what the MEAP is all about: to help drive the curriculum and instructional process, not to compare one school against another."
Even so, children develop so quickly both physically and intellectually, particularly in the early grades, that the glacial state bureaucracy involved in the testing process robs the tests of much of their usefulness.
"It's been six months since they took the tests, and my hope is that every kid is better but the information is pretty dated already," Ingall said.
"We look for a place where high numbers of kids missed a particular question or topic, and that gives us something to work on, to improve."
The state also requires that special education students be tested, which introduces another challenge into interpreting the data.
"One subgroup the state is interested in is special education," Ingall said.
"There is just huge variability within that group, and we're looking at that group to see if there's any shining light that says, 'We need to work on this.'"
Another fact that prevents the tests from having much long-range value is that they are aiming at moving targets.
"The state social studies and science grade level content expectations have been updated, which means within two years we'll see new tests," Ingall said.
"That also makes it harder to track progress from year to year."
Year-to-year improvement aside, overall performance is a constant bright spot.
Writing scores statewide consistently reach only the 50s or 60s at best, yet Chelsea students just as consistently score far better - ranging across grade levels from 6 to 18 points from 2005 to 2007.
"Writing scores continue to be an issue, not only in Chelsea but with the whole state," Ingall pointed out.
"As human beings there are a lot of ways we input information, but writing is a huge piece of how we output our ideas."
In contrast, with scores in the high 80s and low 90s, social studies results zipped past state averages from 2005 to 2007 by 15 to 20 points.
Math scores also were up from 5 to 24 points over state averages in the low 60s, 70s and 80s, depending on grade level.
Reading scores in Chelsea were higher than the solid 70s-to-80s state average, by as little as 2 points in third and fifth grades to as much as 16 points in seventh grade.
Science scores, hovering in the low to mid-90s, were better than statewide by 13 points in fifth grade to 20 points in eighth grade.
"There isn't a particular issue where you could say we fell off the cliff," Ingall noted.
"When you're already in the 90s, we'd like to get to 100 percent but it can be difficult."
Even if you compare district to district, Chelsea consistently scored well in relation to its neighbors.
"Being in the upper echelon of overall scores, we feel very good about that," Killips said.
"People expect a lot, and hopefully the district is providing a well-rounded education.
"The more we can improve our schools, the better we can meet those expectations," he added.
Killips added that the process responding to test results is continuous.
"You have to understand the challenges within your district and do the best you can to deal with them," Killips said.
"Overall we're pleased with our scores, but there's always room for improvement and we're going to strive to improve."
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