This week’s post is a continuation on Drawing Detroit’s examination of the MEAP scores. Last week we took a look at the proficiency levels of students in third through sixth grade for the Detroit City School District, Wayne RESA, Macomb ISD, Oakland Schools and the State of Michigan. This week we will again look at those districts, but for grades seven through nine.

For the Detroit City School District, the percent of proficient seventh-graders on the math portion of the MEAP increased from 9.5 percent in 2011 to 13.2 percent in 2012. In the six years of data presented for this section of the test, 13.2 percent was the highest percent of students deemed proficient for the Detroit district.

While 13.2 was the highest percent of proficient students for the Detroit City School District, the highest percent of proficient students for Oakland Schools came in 2009 with 53.8 percent. In 2012, 53 percent of Oakland Schools’ seventh graders were proficient.

In all four geographical areas, along with the state average, there was only a slight increase in the percent of seventh graders deemed proficient on the reading portion of the MEAP test for 2012, compared to the previous year. As demonstrated throughout this post, the Detroit City School District had the lowest percent of students recognized as being proficient (33 percent in 2012) while the Oakland Schools had the highest (70 percent in 2012).

There were only data available from 2010-2012 for the writing portion of the test because it was modified prior to the 2010-2011 school year, making scores from previous years incomparable.

From 2011 to 2012, the percent of seventh-graders who were proficient on the writing portion of the MEAP increased at the city, tri-county, and state levels. However, all experienced a slight decrease in the percent of proficient students from 2010 to 2011.

In 2012, 28 percent of the seventh graders from the Detroit City School District were proficient on the reading portion of the MEAP. For the same year, 46 percent of the seventh-graders were proficient from the Wayne RESA, 53 percent of the Macomb ISD were proficient and 61 percent of Oakland School students were proficient. The state average of proficient seventh-graders on the writing portion of the MEAP was  51.7 percent.  Detroit students showed the greatest increases.

The percent of eighth grade Detroit students deemed proficient on the math portion of the MEAP test increased from 7.2 in 2011 to 10.8 percent in 2012. There was also about a 3 percent increase from 2011 to 2012 for the State of Michigan, the Oakland Schools and the Wayne County RESA. The Macomb ISD saw a 1 percent increase.

Once again, Detroit was lowest while Oakland schools was at the top. For 2012, 10.8 percent of the Detroit eighth grade students were proficient, and 46 percent of the Oakland Schools eighth-graders were proficient.

When comparing Detroit City School District students to the tri-county and state averages, the largest gap in the percent of proficient students occurs on the eighth grade reading portion of the MEAP. In 2012, 9 percent of the Detroit eighth-graders were deemed proficient in reading whereas the state average was 66 percent. For the Wayne County RESA, 59 percent of the students were proficient.

The Detroit City School District saw about a 1.4 percent increase in the number of eighth-graders who were proficient in science from 2011 to 2012. The Wayne County RESA also saw an increase in the percent of eight grade students proficient in science from 2011 to 2012; it was 4 percent increase. The Oakland Schools, the Macomb ISD, and the state as whole all saw a decrease though.

The percent of proficient ninth-graders on the social studies portion of the MEAP increased for the Detroit City School District and the Wayne County RESA from 2011 to 2012. However, the 2012 numbers are lower than the 2008 numbers for these two districts as well as the Macomb ISD, the Oakland Schools, and the state.