Schools
UPDATED: Hartland Superintendent Says District 'Pleased' With MEAP Results
Fourth-grade writing scores stand out to officials.
The head of the Hartland School District said the district is pleased with the overall 2010 MEAP results — especially in writing — where fourth-graders were more than 14 percentage points higher than the state average.
"We have been working on writing training at the elementary level and we are happy to see our fourth-grade scores on a new writing test," said Superintendent Janet Sifferman in an email to Hartland Patch. "We are moving our writing training to the middle level next year."
About 61 percent of fourth-graders met or exceeded state goals — a lower number the officials attribute in part because it's a new test that sought more from students. But even prior to the new test, students statewide have struggled in writing, which led the district to focus on new methods that have appeared to have paid off.
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"We have really focused a great deal on training our teachers to be better at the 'teaching' of writing," said Laurie Mayes, Hartland's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and MEAP coordinator.
"We will take the student samples that have been scored and begin to analyze them to determine where we need to strengthen our instructional practices. I am hopeful that next year we will do even better."
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Eighth-graders show big gains while fifth-graders slip in science
Eighth-graders who met or exceeded state goals rose 6.8 percentage points in both reading and math — the largest gain — while fifth-graders had the biggest drop at 3.2 percentage points in science, according to fall 2010 MEAP scores released Thursday compared with 2009 results.
Math rose from 81 percent who met or exceeded goals in 2009 to 87.8 percent for in 2010 for eighth-graders while reading increased from 83.8 percent in 2009 to 90.6 percent in 2010. Science fell for fifth-graders from 94.3 percent to 91.1 percent.
Highest vs. lowest
Fourth-graders did the best with 98.8 percent in math who met or exceeded goals while seventh graders had the lowest percentage passing with 53.7 percent in writing.
District vs. statewide
Overall, the district was higher than the statewide average in every category ranging from 2.8 percentage points higher in third grade math to 18.4 points higher in sixth grade social studies.
Who was tested
Grades 3-8 were tested for reading and math. Grades 5 and 8 were tested for science. Grades 6 and 9 were tested for social studies. Grades 4 and 7 were tested for writing.
Please check back for more information later, including a school-by-school breakdown.
Hartland School District Fall 2010 MEAP Results Grade Reading Mathematics Science SocialStudies Writing 3 96.0% 98.1% - - - 4 96.3% 98.8% - - 61.3% 5 93.9% 91.5% 91.1% - - 6 95.2% 98.4% - 93.7% - 7 93.1% 95.3% - - 53.7% 8 90.6% 87.8% 87.9% - - 9 - - - 87.9% - Hartland School District Fall 2009 MEAP Results Grade Reading Mathematics Science Social
Studies 3 95.5% 99.3% - - 4 93.9% 97.3% - - 5 94.3% 88.9% 94.3% - 6 95.3% 95.5% - 90.5% 7 92.2% 91.3% - - 8 83.8% 81.0% 88.7% - 9 - - - 86.1% Hartland School District Fall MEAP Comparisons Grade 2010 Reading 2009 Reading Change 3 96%
95.5% +0.5% 4 96.3% 93.9% +2.4% 5 93.9% 94.3% -0.4% 6 95.2% 95.3% -0.1% 7 93.1% 92.2% +0.9% 8 90.6% 83.8% +6.8% Hartland School District Fall MEAP Comparisons Grade 2010 Mathematics 2009 Mathematics Change 3 98.1% 99.3% -1.2% 4 98.8% 97.3% +1.5% 5 91.5% 88.9% +2.6% 6 98.4% 95.5% +2.9% 7 95.3% 91.3% +4% 8 87.8% 81% +6.8%
Source: All numbers were downloaded from the Michigan Department of Education's website here.
Note: Hartland Patch compared the scores. Writing was not tested in 2009.
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