Michigan Requirements

What does the State of Michigan require for Math achievement?

"Not much".

You may have heard about the new graduation requirements that include a lot more math than in previous years. That is true, but... Michigan has based their standards on the same philosophy that created Everyday Mathematics.

Here is the Michigan Curriculum.

What's wrong with Plymouth-Canton math? We score above the state average on the MEAP.

School districts report the percentage of students that score "Met Standards" (Level 2) and "Exceeded Standards" (Level 1) together as "Proficient".

What does it take to be "Proficient"? The State decides this each year. It took some digging, but I found the breakdown of the scores on the fall 2005 MEAP. This isn't posted anywhere on the State of Michigan web site.

Fourth grade is the most rigorous in math. A 60% is considered "Met Standards". In eighth grade, a 52% is considered "Met Standards".

Since when does a D- (or an F) meet any standard? (By the way, how does a 38% in 9th grade Social Studies show proficiency?)

So, 90% of our 4th graders score higher than a 60%. That's still good isn't it?

Let's look at the test. Here are a two sample questions from the 4th grade and 6th grade MEAP. These questions are each worth 4 points. The correct numerical answer is worth ONE point. Following directions is worth THREE points.

Look at the whole distribution of scores in 4th grade math:
51.2% score between 83% and 100% (Level 1)
39.2 % score between 60% and 82% (Level 2)
7.6% score between 40% and 59% (Level 3)
2.1% score between 0% and 39% (Level 4)

This is not good enough for our children. They deserve better.