More than half of Michigan students failed M-STEP literacy exam

Lori Higgins | Detroit Free Press

On the eve of a pivotal school year — the last one before school districts will have to start holding back some third-graders who aren't reading at grade level — results on the state's important reading and writing exam are hardly providing optimism.

The results — released Wednesday morning by the Michigan Department of Education — might create waves of panic across Michigan, given the state has invested about $100 million in recent years into improving reading instruction. But state education officials are urging patience, saying efforts to improve reading instruction are intensifying and will take time to show results.

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Just 44 percent of the students in grades 3-8 who took the English language arts portion of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) passed the exam.

That's down from nearly 48 percent in 2015 — the first year the M-STEP was given — and marks the fourth year in a row more than half of the students weren't proficient.

The news across the board wasn't pretty:

In math, 37.4 percent of the students in grades 3-8 were proficient, up from 37 percent in 2015.

In social studies, 23.8 percent of students in grades 3-8 were proficient, down from 26 percent in 2015.

On the SAT — the college entrance exam taken by 11th graders — 36.9 percent of students met the benchmark for being considered college- and career-ready in math, while 57.8 percent met that standard in reading and writing. That compares to 2016, where the numbers were 36.8 percent in math and 60.1 percent in reading and writing.

The total average SAT score was 1000.1, out of a possible score of 1600. In 2016, the first year the SAT became part of the high school exam, the total average score was 1000.8.

On a separate high school social studies exam, the percentage of students who were proficient was 48.5 percent, up from 43.9 percent.

Results on the state science exam weren't released because the state is shifting to a new exam and gave a field test — sort of like a practice exam — this year.

The results mirror how Michigan students have performed on the rigorous National Assessment of Educational Progress, an exam given to a representative sample of students in each state. Michigan's scores on that exam have been flat or declining for years, while elsewhere a number of other states have seen their scores rise.

The stakes on the state exam aren't just high for third-grade students. Schools with consistently low proficiency rates risk state intervention that could include forced closure.

The M-STEP and SAT were given to students in the spring. The results, said a University of Michigan researcher, should prompt parents into action, demanding more resources and more focus on proven interventions and programs.

"Parents should not be happy and should be trying to put pressure on the Legislature and the state government and their own individual school districts," said Brian Jacob, the Walter Annenberg Professor of Education Policy at the university.

Tanya Wright, associate professor of language and literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, and others said it will take time to produce improvements.

"Everyone, I think, is well aware that the scores are concerning and have been concerning for the last few years," Wright said.

"It takes a little while to develop what you need, to make the improvements we all know need to be made in this state," said Wright, who is among the lead researchers working with the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators to create resources for teachers. "That effort is really ramping up right now. It will be interesting to see, after the next few years, if all these efforts — with literacy development and professional development — will make a dent."

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These efforts to improve reading instruction are a response to a law passed in 2016 that requires third-graders — beginning with those entering that grade for the 2019-20 school year — to be held back a grade if they're a grade level or more behind in reading. These students will be entering the second grade for the 2018-19 school year that officially begins Tuesday.

The state still must figure out how to use M-STEP results to determine what the cutoff will be for deciding how a student needs to perform in order to be at grade level. Andy Middlestead, the director of the educational assessment and accountability department at MDE, said the state's current measure of proficiency doesn't equate to mastering a grade level.

"We want to take our time to do things right," Middlestead said.

Meanwhile, the law required a number of other things: literacy coaches to assist teachers, a reading assessment given to students multiple times a year to help identify struggling readers and reading intervention programs for those students.

During a media roundtable organized by the MDE on Monday, state officials — including the lawmaker who was the architect of the third-grade reading law — said the work that is ongoing should be given a chance to succeed.

"Don’t look at this year’s results ... and say, 'we're not there, we're in a horrible crisis,' " said Martin Ackley, spokesman for the MDE. "The work being done here is a great foundation. It's showing promise."

Amanda Price, the former state representative who was the main sponsor of the law, said, "I always want to move faster." But, she acknowledged, "things need to be in place so teachers have buy in."

Price, who chairs Gov. Rick Snyder's Pre-K12 Literacy Commission, said she's pleased that so many are coming together to improve reading instruction.

Among the efforts: The Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators is leading an effort that has involved ISD leaders from across the state who meet regularly to discuss ways to be proactive in helping local schools. They have developed a detailed job description, highlighting what it means to be a literacy coach. They've also developed a host of materials teachers can use in the classroom, and are posting that information on their website, www.literacyessentials.org.

And while the law spells out five components of a reading program, this group — with the help of researchers like Wright — expanded it to 10.

"We've gone above and beyond," said Susan Townsend, project director at the ISD association. The guides they've created, she said, "are like practice guides in medicine."

One, for instance, is focused on early childhood and kindergarten programs and lays out 10 essential instructional practices that should happen every day. They include things like using literacy "artifacts" such as menus, traffic signs, postcards and books daily in play activities.

The MDE touted one-year gains in third- and fourth-grade English language arts, saying they're evidence some of the work to improve reading instruction is working. But those gains were tiny — from 44.1 percent proficient in third grade last year to 44.4 percent this year, and from 44.2 percent in fourth grade last year to 45 percent this year.

"The third- and fourth-graders in school today are the kids who are benefiting from the investments in early childhood education programs over the past several years," Sheila Alles, the interim state superintendent, said in a news release.

Wednesday's test data release highlights challenges in achievement overall, but in particular it continues to raise concerns about the low achievement of African-American, Latino and low-income students, said Amber Arellano, executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, an education research and advocacy organization based in Royal Oak. Arellano said in a statement that equity in education must be a top priority for Michigan's next governor.

"Huge gaps in learning outcomes are holding back Michigan's economic vitality and require policy leaders to not only invest — but to invest more strategically — in dramatically raising literacy levels through new, thoughtful systemic approaches."

The organization's analysis of the results found that proficiency rates were nearly four times greater for white students in eighth-grade math than they were for black students and about double the rate for Latino students.

In the state's largest system — the Detroit Public Schools Community District — there were a few bright spots, but overall achievement was low and there were a number of troubling signs. SAT results, for instance, were down in every category and the average overall score was 866, well off the state average. For four years in a row, fewer than 5 percent of the district's fifth-graders were proficient in math and social studies.

Detroit pop-up school enrollment centers draw parents Pop-up enrollment centers in the Detroit Public Schools Community District are helping connect parents to schools.

Overall, just 11.5 percent of the districts 3-8 students were proficient in English language arts while 6.7 percent were proficient in math. That's down from 13.1 percent in language arts in 2015 and 7.3 percent in math.

The district, which was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager from 2009 until the end of 2016, has been undergoing a turnaround designed to improve academic achievement.

Earlier this year, a curriculum audit found that the district's curriculum was inferior and not aligned with state standards. This school year, the district is debuting a new curriculum in math and English language arts for students in grades 3-8.

Among the bright spots: Some schools in the district have seen steady gains over the four years of the M-STEP exam, particularly in reading and writing. For instance, the proficiency rates rose at the following schools:

Academy of the Americas Elementary-Middle School went from 8.9 percent to 17.6 percent, a 98-percent jump.

Maybury Elementary School went from 8.8 percent to 16.6 percent, an 89-percent increase.

Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School went from 10.4 percent to 16.3 percent, a 57-percent increase.

Michele Massey, the principal at Ann Arbor Trail, attributed the improved results to a "team effort" that includes "outstanding teachers that work hard every day," professional development, an intense focus on using data to guide instruction and parents who help their children at home. The push now is to maintain that momentum.

"My hardworking teachers will continue to grow and hone their skills and believe in the mission," Massey said. "They want to learn and enhance their instruction. That's what we do."

District officials are encouraged that there was improvement in some areas.

"This year's performance is not surprising," Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in a statement Wednesday. "It is positive to see slight improvement in various areas due to a greater focus on general school improvement strategies, such as increased monitoring and student data analysis, but our teachers and principals were not equipped with the right training and tools to maximize student performance yet. The investments we have made to improve teaching and learning will be felt in the classroom during the 2018-19 school year."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the state, the Reading Now Network — which spans 20 counties and 17 ISDs — is seeing success with its effort to go into school buildings and work closely with teachers and building leaders to help improve instruction.

"It's not a program," said Kyle Mayer of the network and an assistant superintendent of the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District. "It is public educators doing the work we should have always been doing."

With all the work being done to improve reading instruction, there is still debate over whether the state should mandate the retention of third-graders.

"We should be concerned about the retention component of the law and what that means for our kids in Michigan, particularly when the research evidence from other states that have tried retention suggests that it’s not effective and may even be detrimental for kids," Wright said.

But she said there's no question that the other components of the law — the literacy coaches, the intervention — "will be very useful to improving the instruction kids get in their classrooms on a day-to-day basis."

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins