Iosco County schools receive MEAP scores
by John Morris

EAST TAWAS - Similar to last year’s results, just one Iosco County school district consistently outperformed its state counterparts in the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests.

Students statewide in grades three through eight took the MEAP tests in the fall of 2006 in areas of math, reading, English Language Arts (ELA) and writing. Fifth and eighth graders also took science tests, while sixth and ninth graders added social studies to the MEAP tests.
Students at Tawas Area Schools did better on the tests than their state counterparts in 24 of the 28 examinations, according to figures released by the Michigan Department of Education. Tawas students scored higher than their Iosco counterparts in 23 of the 28 tests.

Whittemore-Prescott Area Schools students finished higher than the state average in nine of the 28 tests; Hale Area Schools students outperformed their state counterparts in eight of the 28 tests, and students at Oscoda Area Schools finished higher in one of the 28 tests.

In third grade, Tawas students outperformed their state counterparts in math, reading and ELA. The other district to score above the state average in third grade was Whittemore-Prescott students in math. None of the Iosco districts exceeded their state counterparts in third grade writing.

In third grade math, where 88 percent of students in the state met or exceeded the standard, Tawas finished at 93 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 90.8 percent, Oscoda at 84.9 percent and Hale at 82.4 percent.

The percentage statewide of third graders who met or exceeded Michigan standards for reading was 87 percent. Locally, Tawas led the way at 95.3 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 86.8 percent, Oscoda at 76.8 percent and Hale at 70.6 percent.

In writing, where just 52 percent of third graders in Michigan met or exceeded the state standard, Tawas finished at 47.7 percent, Whittemore-Prescott was at 42.1 percent, Hale was at 31.4 percent and Oscoda was at 27.2 percent.

The percentage of third graders statewide who met or exceeded the state standard for ELA was 79. Tawas students finished at 86 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 75 percent, Oscoda at 60 percent and Hale at 56.9 percent.

In fourth grade, only Tawas did better than its state counterparts. Tawas Area fourth graders scored better than the state average in three of the four tests.

In math, where 85 percent of students met or exceeded the state standard, Tawas finished at 86.6 percent, Oscoda was at 80.4 percent, Whittemore-Prescott was at 77 percent and Hale was at 56.6 percent.

The percentage statewide of fourth graders who met or exceeded Michigan standards in reading was 85 percent. Locally, Tawas led the way at 90.2 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 78.4 percent, Hale at 77.4 percent and Oscoda students finished at 71.7 percent.

The percentage of third graders statewide who met or exceeded the state standard for ELA was 79. Tawas students finished at 86 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 75 percent, Oscoda at 60 percent and Hale at 56.9 percent.

In fourth grade, only Tawas did better than its state counterparts. Tawas Area fourth graders scored better than the state average in three of the four tests.

In math, where 85 percent of students met or exceeded the state standard, Tawas finished at 86.6 percent, Oscoda was at 80.4 percent, Whittemore-Prescott was at 77 percent and Hale was at 56.6 percent.

The percentage statewide of fourth graders who met or exceeded Michigan standards in reading was 85 percent. Locally, Tawas led the way at 90.2 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 78.4 percent, Hale at 77.4 percent and Oscoda students finished at 71.7 percent.

Fourth grade students in Iosco’s four local districts were outperformed by their state counterparts in writing, where the state average was 45 percent for meeting or exceeding the standard. Tawas finished at 41.5 percent, Oscoda was at 39.1 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 33.8 percent and Hale at 20.8 percent.

In fourth grade ELA, just Tawas, at 84.1 percent, scored higher than the state average of 78 percent. Oscoda students finished at 66.3 percent, Whittemore-Prescott was at 64.9 percent and Hale was at 58.5 percent.

Two of the four districts, Tawas and Hale, scored better than their state counterparts in four of the five fifth grade MEAP tests.

In fifth grade math, only Hale students at 79.6 percent exceeded the state average of 76 percent. Oscoda was next with 74.1 percent, followed by Tawas at 71.6 percent and Whittemore-Prescott at 65 percent.

The percentage statewide of fifth graders who met or exceeded Michigan standards for reading was 84 percent. Only Tawas at 87.4 percent and Hale at 85.7 percent scored above the state average. Oscoda students scored at 72.4 percent and Whittemore-Prescott students were at 65 percent.

The percentage of Michigan students who met or exceeded the standard in the fifth grade writing test was 57. Percentage of Tawas students was 61.1 percent, followed by Hale at 46.9 percent, Oscoda at 43.1 percent and Whittemore-Prescott at 27.5 percent.

In fifth grade ELA, where the percentage of statewide students who scored at or above the standard was 78, Tawas students scored 83.2 percent, Hale students scored 79.6 percent, Oscoda students scored 63.8 percent and Whittemore-Prescott students scored 51.3 percent.

In fifth grade science, three Iosco districts scored above their state counterparts (83 percent) in meeting or exceeding the state standard. Tawas scored 89.5 percent, Hale finished at 87.8 percent and Whittemore-Prescott scored 86.3 percent. Oscoda students scored 77.6 percent.

Tawas was the only Iosco district to score above the state average in sixth grade MEAP tests. Students at Tawas outscored their state counterparts in four of the five tests.

The state average for sixth graders scoring at or above the state standard in math was 69 percent. All four districts fell behind the standard - Oscoda was at 63.6 percent, Tawas finished at 61.7 percent, Hale was at 56.3 percent and Whittemore-Prescott was at 51.8 percent.

In sixth grade reading, where the state average for students who met or exceeded the standard was 83 percent, Tawas students scored 91.5 percent, Hale students scored 77.6 percent, Oscoda students scored 75.7 percent and Whittemore-Prescott students scored 75.3 percent.

The state average for sixth graders scoring at or above the standard in social studies was 74 percent. Tawas students scored 78.7 percent, Hale students scored 71.4 percent, Whittemore-Prescott students scored 65.9 percent and Oscoda students scored 62.2 percent.

In sixth grade writing, where the state average for students was 74 percent, Tawas scored 80.9 percent, Oscoda scored 63.1 percent, Hale scored 61.2 percent and Whittemore-Prescott scored 51.8 percent.

The percentage of Michigan students who met or exceeded the standard in sixth grade ELA was 78 percent. Tawas students scored 88.3 percent, Oscoda students scored 68.5 percent, Hale students scored 67.3 percent and Whittemore-Prescott students scored 63.5 percent.

In seventh grade, Tawas, Hale and Whittemore-Prescott scored above the state average in reading and ELA, Tawas and Whittemore-Prescott outscored their state counterparts in writing, while Tawas did the same in math.

Hale students led the way in seventh grade reading at 84.6 percent, followed by Whittemore-Prescott at 82.1 percent and Tawas at 81 percent. The three districts scored better than the state average of 80 percent meeting or exceeding standards on the test. Oscoda was close behind at 78 percent.

The state average for students at or above the standard for seventh grade writing was 65 percent, with Whittemore-Prescott scoring at 72.6 percent, Tawas scoring at 67.2 percent, Oscoda at 61.6 percent and Hale at 55.8 percent.

In seventh grade ELA, where the state average for students at or above the standard was 76 percent, Whittemore-Prescott led the way at 81 percent, Hale was at 78.8 percent, Tawas was at 78.1 percent and Oscoda was at 73.7 percent.

Tawas was the only local district to score above the state average (64 percent) in seventh grade math. Tawas seventh graders who met or exceeded the state standard in math was 75.2 percent, followed by Oscoda at 63.3 percent, Hale at 53.8 percent and Whittemore-Prescott at 50.

In eighth grade, Tawas students scored higher than their state counterparts in all five MEAP tests, Whittemore-Prescott students were higher in three of the tests and Hale students scored higher in one.

In eighth grade math, where the state average for students who met or exceeded the standard was 68 percent, Tawas students scored 80.8 percent, Hale students scored 74.5 percent, Whittemore-Prescott students scored 72.4 percent and Oscoda students scored 64.5 percent.

In reading, the state average for eighth graders at or above the standard was 76 percent. Tawas scored 90.1 percent, Hale scored 72.2 percent, Whittemore-Prescott scored 70.1 percent and Oscoda scored 55.3 percent.

In eighth grade science, where the state average for students who met or exceeded the standard was 75 percent, Tawas scored 95.4 percent, Whittemore-Prescott scored 81.6 percent, Hale scored 74.5 percent and Oscoda scored 65.3 percent.

The state average for eighth graders scoring at or above the standard in writing was 67 percent. Tawas students scored 76.3 percent, Whittemore-Prescott students scored 63.2 percent, Hale students scored 63 percent and Oscoda students scored 52 percent.

In ELA, the state average for eighth graders scoring at or above the standard was 71 percent. Tawas was at 84.7 percent, Whittemore-Prescott was at 71.3 percent, Hale was at 69.8 percent and Oscoda was at 52 percent.

Finally, in ninth grade social studies, where the state average was at 74 percent, Tawas scored 79.1 percent, Hale was at 76.4 percent, Oscoda was at 76.3 percent and Whittemore-Prescott was at 61.2 percent.

The state did not list the MEAP scores at Sunrise Education Center, because fewer than 10 students in each grade were tested.

Michigan students were tested in October on skills learned through the end of the previous year. It is the second straight year that MEAP testing was conducted in the fall, after several years of mid-year testing. The change was implemented by the State Board of Education so schools would receive student results during the same school year.

This year’s January release of MEAP data to schools comes two months ahead of last year’s data and will give educators more time to analyze the results and address any curriculum needs in the classroom.