Ypsilanti’s third through eighth graders have shown significant improvements in MEAP scores and made progress in closing the achievement gap, administrators say.

A recent summary of MEAP scores presented to the school board showed improvements in the percentage of students scoring proficient or above in the MEAP's reading and math sections between fall 2008 and fall 2009. Reading and math are the subjects measured in school districts’ Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) evaluations.

The report showed gains across the board, but it called students’ overall performance “less than ideal.” Despite improvements, district students scored well below the county- and state-wide averages in reading and math in all grade levels.

Still, the district showed the highest rate of improvement from one year to the next in math and reading performance in Washtenaw County.

Jerry Fouchey, an interim administrator for Ypsilanti Public Schools, said part of the reason for the high rate of improvement is that Ypsilanti's scores were much lower to begin with. It’s hard for Saline or Dexter’s districts to show significant increases in the percentage of students scoring prificient or above because roughly 90-95 percent of students have already attained that level of performance.

But he said the difference between Ypsilanti's improvement rates and those of the districts with the second or third highest rates is so great that it indicates a high level of progress.

“The bottom line is, the difference in those two numbers is significant,” he said. “It’s not that we’re happy with these overall numbers yet, but clearly we’re making gains.”

Fouchey said the ultimate target is to have all students scoring at the proficient levl or above, and satisfaction with anything less would mean the district doesn’t care about those students who aren’t achieving.

The data presented also showed significant progress in closing the achievement gap. Historically, minority students have had lower scores than white students. Fouchey called the numbers indicating the closure of the achievement gap “startling.”

He pointed out that while minority students are showing gains, white students are as well.

In reading, African-American and Hispanic students posted respective passing rate improvements of 10.8 and 22 percentage points, while the percentage of white students passing improved by 5.6 percentage points.

African-American and Hispanic students also scored higher in math, improving their passing rates by 4 and 21.8 percentage points respectively. White students improved their passing rate by 1.3 percentage points.

Fouchey said the district enrolls far fewer Hispanic students, so their passing rates are subject to greater annual fluctuations, but he said the figures still showed they are undoubtedly improving.

Economically disadvantaged students - those who receive free or reduced-price lunch - showed improvements in their passing rates of of 11.8 percentage points in reading and 4 percentage points in math, while economically advantaged students showed gains of 8 percentage points in reading and 5.3 percentage points in math.

“What we see is a very consistent pattern of the gap closing,” Fouchey said. “We’re seeing some gains in the traditionally strong groups, too. You don’t want to see the group that has been performing well suddenly not performing well.”

In making AYP, the state looks at the various socioeconomic subgroups to determine if schools are effectively teaching all students.

Fouchey attributes the success to changes in curriculum that are a result of educators determining which students lag in which areas and why.

“Folks have really been focusing on these issues,” he said. “It’s been a process of continually articulating the problem and figuring out ‘How do we provide staff the tools to address those issues?’”

Grades 9-12 are measured by the Michigan Merit Exam in grade 11. Their scores are not yet available.

To see the most recent MEAP results for Ypsilanti schools, visit the state Department of Education's website.