Oxford Schools Curriculum Director Karen Eckert is pleased that almost every score on the elementary and middle school MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program) exams went up for the 2004 school year, but don’t expect her to toot her own horn or start shouting the numbers from the rooftops.
‘I’m very hesitant to place too much emphasis on this, because you never know what’s going to happen year to year. Strange things happen,? said Eckert. ‘I’d love to always be able to say we took this step and then saw the scores go up, but it doesn’t work that way.
‘I’m very cautious taking credit for something like that.?
An example would be the fifth grade science score where 92 percent of the student either met or exceeded Michigan’s standards. Eckert explained that the teachers have been using some new science kits, so she would love to simply say the new materials make the difference. However, at the same time the kits were implemented, the state changed the science test. The conclusion for Eckert: ‘You just don’t always know what made something work or not work.?
In fact, Eckert is curious why that science score is so high. ‘I want to know that as much as why it would be low,? she stated.
On both the fourth and fifth grade exams, all of the scores rose from the 2003 results. Again, Eckert could not give credit to any one action, but credits the district’s building and staff improvement plans.
She explained that MEAP scores are only a portion of the information used by administrators and teachers to create new and diverse teaching strategies for the students. When using the MEAP, the staff looks across the scores for difficulty trends (such as measurement, decimals, fractions and multiple step problems in the fifth grade math) and then create new teaching strategies to address those difficulties.
‘Across the board from building to building we see very similar strengths and weaknesses,? confirmed Eckert. ‘It’s all part of our school improvement strategies. If we focus on what’s happening in the classroom, then the MEAP will take care of itself.
‘We are also working very hard with kids who are not functioning at grade level, and we can see that in the results. Again, though, we’re working with strategies, not the curriculum.?
Staff members in Oxford Schools address all testing results with the same three questions every year: What do you want kids to know? How do you know they’ve learned it? What do you do if they haven’t? The MEAP scores fall under the second question, said Eckert, ‘and allow the staff to see what the students know, although it’s not easy to analyze sometimes.?
When asked whether or not she feels teachers are beginning to ‘teach to the test,? Eckert was firm in her belief that Oxford teachers focus on what skills the test measures.
‘It does happen to a point,? she conceded, ‘We work on test taking strategies and go over sample question before the actual test, but what we actually teach is what the test measures, which is part of our curriculum anyway. When someone asks that question, I always ask back, ‘Why, is there something on the test the kids shouldn’t know how to do??
‘We try to include everything in our curriculum, but it’s very hard not to end up with a very wide, very think curriculum that’s very difficult to teach,? she added. ‘We have plenty of time to teach the skills on the test, plus whatever else is important for the students to know.?