Schools

New Haven Superintendent: 'We Are Not Happy' with 2011 MEAP Scores

New Haven Community Schools' 2011 MEAP scores were below state averages in almost every test subject and grade level.

Of the four school districts serving Macomb Township, only New Haven Community Schools found its students performing consistently below state averages in almost all 2011 MEAP test subjects.

"We are not happy with our MEAP scores this year," said New Haven Superintendent Keith Wunderlich. "We met with all our building administrators yesterday after the scores were released and talked about what we can do."

Given the lower than expected scores in math and reading, Wunderlich said greater emphasis will be given to these subjects immediately.

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"We are going to place a greater concentration on reading and mathematics starting right now," he said. "After we met with administrators yesterday, we scheduled a district-wide professional development day for all math teachers to work on the curriculum and examine any instructional weaknesses. Because math was always our strongest area we, hopefully, have less work to do in this content area to regain our position at the top end of the scores."

Although New Haven saw the percentage of its seventh grade students rated proficient in math increase from 2010 to 2011, other grade levels saw these percentages drop.

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A student's performance on the MEAP is defined as advanced, proficient, partially proficient, or not proficient. Those who achieve advanced, or proficient ratings “pass” the test.

Sixth, seventh and eighth grade math were the only areas in which a greater percentage of New Haven students were rated proficient than the state average.

Despite declining proficiency in fifth grade science and sixth grade social studies (from 2010 to 2011), Wunderlich said he plans to keep the district's focus on core areas tested annually–namely math and reading.

"Working on reading will also improve social studies scores. Working on math will help us in science," he said. "Sometimes a test for a certain grade level is more difficult than the previous year. One grade level for one year isn’t always an accurate picture of how you’re doing overall."

Wunderlich added he is confident that New Haven's small size will be an asset in making the necessary curriculum changes quickly.

"New Haven has come a long way in the past year," he said. "We have put our financial problems behind us and are one of the few school districts with a balanced budget. Improving achievement is our next goal. With our financial problems behind us, instruction becomes our only focus."

State % NH 2010 %* NH 2011 % 3 Math 36 38 29.3 3 Reading 62 64 53.7 4 Reading 68 55 57.3 4 Writing 45 44 32 4 Math 40 45 35.7 5 Reading 69 66 66.7 5 Math 40 41 37.3 5 Science 15 17 6.7 6 Reading 67 57 61 6 Math 37 39 37.6 6 Soc. Studies 28 32 18.3 7 Reading 60 40 54.8 7 Writing 47 34 37.5 7 Math 37 30 40.4 8 Reading 61 45 55.8 8 Math 29 31 30.1 8 Science 16 7 14.6 9 Soc. Studies 29 17 18.7

*2010 scores have been re-calculated to reflect the new state-adopted cut scores used on the 2011 MEAP.


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