Merit Scores Show Slight Improvement; Students Still Not Ready For College

While students are making some progress on the Michigan Merit Exam in math, social studies and writing, with the same or worse scores in other subject areas, still fewer than half of students are proficient in writing and math and, overall, scores don't reflect college readiness, Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said on Tuesday.

Writing and math scores each improved by three points this year, with 44 percent of 11th grade students scoring proficient or advanced in 2009 compared to 41 percent in 2008 and 49 percent receiving those marks in math this year compared to 46 percent last year, according to test results released by the Department of Education.

"This is good news for writing and math scores," said Mr. Flanagan, "but we still are not where we need to be overall, in getting all students to be college-ready."

Social studies, the only other subject to see improvement, saw increased proficiency by 1 percentage point.

As for other subject areas: proficiency in reading fell 2 percent to 60 percent; scores in English language arts stayed the same at 52 percent in both years and science scores dropped 1 percentage point from 57 percent last year to 56 percent this year.

Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), chair of the Senate Education Committee, said he agrees that getting students adjusted to the new, harder merit curriculum is still a work in progress.

He said he expects to see some fluctuations each year as different age groups take the test and other factors account for population changes in test-takers, but then he wants to see steady progress that points to more successful and prepared students.

One way the exam tests for college preparedness is through the included ACT college entrance exam, which is used to evaluate who is eligible for the Promise Grant, an appropriation for which was eliminated in the Senate's budget. But the future of the program is now up in the air since the governor and House have both promised to keep the program.

The composite ACT score this year for students improved slightly, going from 18.8 last year to 19, meaning theoretically more students could be eligible for the $4,000 scholarship award, although the Department of Education said they won't release a tally of the number of students who qualified until next year.

Mr. Kuipers, who said he voted against the Senate's budget because it eliminated the Promise Grant, said he is still clinging to the hope that the Legislature will find a way to replace the funds for the program, saying "doing away with the scholarship may be a disincentive for many kids."

"I don't agree with the governor about much, but on this, I think she may be right," he said of Governor Granholm's insistence that she would veto any budget that eliminates the program.