With chart: Washtenaw County Michigan Merit Exam results: How did your school do?

By Kyle Feldscher Crime and courts reporter

Posted on Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 5:43 p.m.

Ann Arbor Public Schools’ scores on the Michigan Merit Exam stayed steady from last year and are still far ahead of state averages in many categories, according to statistics released by the state Tuesday.

The scores from other Washtenaw County high schools also remained similar to 2010’s scores.

For a PDF list of Ann Arbor high schools scores and other county schools, click here.
To view a state database of MME test results by school and district, click here.

Among the gains in Washtenaw County:

School districts such as Milan Area Schools, Whitmore Lake Public Schools, Willow Run High School and Dexter Community Schools all produced gains in a majority of the five subjects.

School districts such as Manchester Community Schools and Chelsea School District posted slight declines in average scores, but managed to stay above the state average.

An average of 52 percent of Michigan students scored proficient or advanced in math. The other scores of proficient or advanced: 63 percent in reading, 61 percent in science, 77 percent in social studies and 47 percent in writing. Michigan students have made gains in all areas except social studies since 2007.

The Ann Arbor statistics broke down as follows:

74 percent of students scored advanced or proficient in math; same as in 2010.
78 percent of students scored advanced or proficient in reading; 1 percent drop from 2010.
75 percent of students scored advanced or proficient in science; 1 percent gain from 2010.
87 percent of students scored advanced or proficient in social studies; same as in 2010.
66 percent of students scored advanced or proficient in writing; 1 percent gain from 2010.

Eleventh-grade students across the state of Michigan are given the MME and ACT tests every spring as a part of the graduation requirements approved by the state in 2007.

Among the drops in Washtenaw County:

Saline High School saw a drop in the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in all 5 subjects, but remained above the state average in every category. Despite dropping in every category, the largest decrease was just 4 percentage points below last year’s numbers.

The scores for high school students in Ypsilanti dropped in 4 out of 5 categories, but included a gain of 10 percentage points in science. However, just one-quarter of Ypsilanti 11th-graders scored proficient in math and less than one-fifth scored proficient in writing.

The scores for Ypsilanti represent only students at Ypsilanti High School due to the fact that the recently opened New Tech High School had only freshman in 2010-11.

Note (July 5): The numbers used to determine the percentages in this story were the amount of students who met or exceeded proficiency over the total number of students tested. School districts may report different scores to parents based on how the state calculates which students are included in the total included number.