Hancock Superintendent Steve Patchin discussed the M-STEP results, which were released Tuesday, from across the CCISD in an interview Wednesday. Schools in the CCISD saw some results that differed from the rest of the state. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo by Graham Jaehnig)
By Houghton Daily Mining
Gazette staff
HANCOCK — While M-STEP scores released Tuesday showed statewide scores down across almost all categories compared to two years ago, local results were more mixed.
Third- through eighth-graders and 11th-graders took standardized tests last year. The federal Department of Education declined the state’s request to waive standardized testing, which had been granted in 2020. Depending on the grade level, participation ranged from 64% to 72%, the state said.
Statewide, the only areas where students fared better in 2021 were in the eighth and 11th-grade English/language arts.
Despite “extraordinary efforts” by state educators, many students will spend next year trying to catch up, state Superintendent Michael Rice said.
In Michigan and across the country, we have our work cut out for us,” he said.
Across the CCISD, students saw a decrease in English/language arts scores from their 2019 counterparts in third, fourth and seventh grades, while fifth, sixth and eighth grades increased. In math, only fifth and seventh grades went up.
In both ELA and math, the third and fourth grades fell the most. ELA fourth-grade test dropped by 6.9 percentage points, followed by third grade at 6.4. In math, fourth grade declined by 5.9 percentage points, just ahead of third grade at 5.7.
The largest increase seen in any category over 2019 was in sixth grade ELA, where the percentage of advanced or proficient students went from 42.8% to 47.2%.
Fifth-grade social studies scores rose a percentage point across the CCISD from 2019, while 11th-grade fell by 0.6.
Year-to-year comparisons are difficult in many areas because of the differences in participation level and other variables caused by the pandemic, Rice said.
In Hancock, close to 100% of students took the test at the elementary level, said Superintendent Steve Patchin. Participation dropped slightly at the high school level, owing to the higher number of virtual learners last year.
Rice encouraged districts to analyze their data at the school and district level to address shortfalls. Even before test results came back, teachers had been watching closely to see what areas were problems for students, Patchin said.
“We felt pretty good in some areas about how they were progressing and the teachers were pretty comfortable with it, but we knew there were going to be some areas we had to intervene, so that’s why we ran our summer program,” he said.
After the state offered funding for summer programs, Hancock joined with Chassell Township, Lake Linden-Hubbell and the Copper Country Intermediate School District (CCISD) to offer programs for K-12.
The type of instruction differed by grade level, and included both academic and social support. At K-5, the programs were focused on science, technology, engineering and math, with some learning intervention mixed in to address areas for improvement.
“Obviously, we didn’t have test scores at that time, so we actually had the teachers of the students that were enrolled in the program give us an idea of where they thought they were and needed some help,” Patchin said.
The middle-school program was more focused on students who had struggled, whether because of attendance issues or other reasons. That program was tailored more to hands-on learning, and social-emotional learning involving group activities.
High school was centered on getting students the credits required by the state in order to graduate.
There was a mix of face-to-face and virtual courses, Patchin said. Students also took adventure courses, such as visiting Pictured Rocks or learning from the Department of Natural Resources at Porcupine Mountains.
Patchin credited the programs for proactively addressing what students needed. For the coming school year, he said teachers would use test results to inform targeted interventions for students.
“We’ve got a system set up for that here, like you would every year,” he said. “We just need to add a few more resources to them.”
Patchin said it’s more informative to see how a class does over time rather than comparing the same grade level.
“That’s where we get caught up on these M-STEP scores, because they just measure the grade at that time, so they’re not measuring growth,” he said. “True education should be focused on growing students, and not just how that fourth grade performed in fourth grade.”
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