Cheboygan students see some gains in reading, math proficiency

CHEBOYGAN — Teachers and administrators at Cheboygan Area Schools saw some gains in math but decreases in reading proficiency among students after setting a goal to increase the number of students in the 50th percentile or higher in both areas by 10%.

The students took two different rounds of standardized testing in the fall and spring, respectively. Teachers worked with the students in between these testing cycles to help the students become more proficient in the material.

"We looked at mid-year data back in February, I believe it was, and so now we have end-of-the-year data," said Cheboygan Area Schools Superintendent Paul Clark.

At the board's June 27 meeting, information was broken down by individual school building.

More: Cheboygan Area Schools still has work to do to meet benchmark goals

At East Elementary, kindergarten student scores increased by 8.9% over last year, first grade scores increased by 2.7% and second grade scores increased by 0.2% for the math material. In reading, kindergarten scores decreased by 5%, first grade decreased by 4.6% and second grade scores decreased by 2.9%.

More: Cheboygan school officials look at standardized testing data

"For the intermediate, the numbers are very good here," said Clark.

At Cheboygan Intermediate Schools, third grade student math scores increased by 16.4%, fourth grade increased by 19.4% and fifth grade increased by 12.6%. In the reading, third grade scores increased by 20.4%. Fourth grade scores increased by 12.7%, while fifth grade scores saw a 2.2% decrease.

Cheboygan Middle School's sixth grade students who were proficient in math increased by 6.1% and seventh grade scores were up by 14.3%. In reading, sixth grade scores decreased 7.8%, while seventh grade scores increased by 6.4%.

The number of students at Cheboygan High School also fluctuated in math, with eighth grade student scores increasing by 4.9%, ninth grade decreased by 1.5%, 10th grade decreased by 3.5% and 11th grade decreased by 3%. For reading, eighth grade students decreased proficiency by 9.1%, ninth grade decreased by 1.5%, 10th grade decreased by 1.2% and 11th decreased 1.3%.

The students who attend Inverness Academy, the district's alternative education program, also took the standardized testing. In math, there was no change in the number of students proficient in the material in seventh grade, eighth grade saw a 33% increase, ninth increased by 4.5%, 10th increased by 1.2% and 11th increased by 5.7%.

More: 'We've got some work to do': Superintendent reports on standardized testing results

"One thing, you see kind of a larger fluctuation," said Clark. "Not as many students out here (Inverness), so it's easier to have larger fluctuations, I would say."

Also at Inverness Academy, the reading scores, there were no changes in the seventh grade students' scores, eighth grade increased by 33%, ninth decreased by 11.9%, 10th increased by 9.9% and 11th decreased by 34.9%.

Clark said, when looking at the overall scores throughout the district and comparing them to the nationwide NWEA testing scores, Cheboygan Area Schools comes close to the average.

"You can see from the fall to the spring, we did close some gaps," said Clark.

There were only two grades, eighth and ninth grade, where there were not any gaps between the national average and Cheboygan scores.

Dr. Michele Ackerman, principal of Cheboygan Middle School and Inverness Academy, said the staff and administration is looking at what may have caused some of the fluctuation in scores for the fifth and sixth grade students.

Subscribe: Get unlimited access to all our local coverage

In seventh grade, the students start working on the secondary school model more, using similar materials as to what they will see in the high school, which could be a contributing factor to that grade's changes.

With the third and fourth grades, there had been reorganizing of staff and teaching duties, which could have also contributed to the change in scores for those grades.

Contact Reporter Kortny Hahn at khahn1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @khahnCDT.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan Area Schools students show improvement on test scores