Understanding New Michigan Cut Scores

January 12, 2012

Watch the video linked here to learn about the new Michigan cut scores.  The Michigan State Board of Education has recently changed cut scores for the MEAP and MME tests.  This change has brought about several questions from both parents and the community.  We want to keep you informed about these changes and how they will affect your students.

Click here to watch the video: Understanding the New Michigan Cut Scores.

What are cut scores?
Each year students in grades 3-9 are required to take the MEAP and eleventh graders are required to take the MME.  MEAP and MME cut scores separate test takers into various categories such as advanced, proficient, partially proficient and not proficient.  This scoring can be difficult to describe, but the results are clear:  with the change in cut scores, fewer students will be considered “proficient” on state assessments.

How were cut scores changed?
Michigan’s previous cut scores for MEAP and MME were set at a very basic level.  They have been raised.  New cut scores represent a much higher standard for student achievement and are meant to better reflect a student’s progress toward college and career readiness.  Now, instead of a passing score being in some cases as low as 29 percent, it will be more difficult for students to pass these tests and harder for schools to meet the definition of Adequate Yearly Progress.  Under the new scoring system, students will have to correctly answer a much higher percentage of questions.

Why were the cut scores raised?
Raising the cut scores will give Michigan parents and students a much better sense of whether they are adequately prepared for the next step in their education and a future career.  The new cut scores are also more in line with what is found in the Common Core State Standards that Michigan adopted in June.  These new curriculum standards are based on College and Career Readiness Standards and they increase the rigor of what is taught in schools.  Michigan will now be among those states, such as New York and Tennessee, which have these very difficult levels of testing.

What does this mean for students at Belding Area Schools?
BAS uses a variety of ways to measure student learning and academic progress.  MEAP and MME are only two tools used to guide program changes and are not necessarily used for instructional decisions.  Our teachers and administrators use classroom or school-based measures to provide more detailed information about student ability and achievement.

Like school districts across the state, our MEAP and MME proficiency results are expected to decline when publicly released next spring. While we anticipate an initial drop in the number of students reported as “proficient,” we are confident this change will be temporary due to ongoing school improvement efforts and student support.

If a student is reported as “not proficient,” it does not mean that he or she is not gaining academic skills or knowledge expected for his or her grade level. It means that on the day of the test, this student was not yet proficient on the material being tested. Many students may require additional help and/or time to master these skills. Actually, by the time parents and the school receive the MEAP/MME results from the state, many students identified as “not proficient” will have closed the gap.

For more information, contact your building principal or visit our district web site at http://www.bas-k12.org for periodic updates.  We will continue to keep our parents informed through our district web site as well as written communications such as this.