By By JOANNA ARNETT / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- In February of this year, St. Mary's School's fourth and fifth graders took the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test for the first time ever -- and passed with high-flying colors.
The MEAP is taken by fourth, fifth, eighth, and tenth grade students, and St. Mary's School only has grades preschool through sixth. The school received their test results mid-October.
In Science, the students scored 95 percent (state average 77 percent); in Math, 75 percent (state average of 65 percent); and in Language Arts, a credible 100 percent, versus the state average of only 60 percent.
Why was this the first year that St. Mary's has participated in this test?
St. Mary's will have fourth and fifth grade students take the MEAP from now on.
One of the favorable aspects of the MEAP is that it really doesn't test the abilities of the individual child; rather, it tests what they've been taught by their school's curriculum, versus the state average of knowledge.
Children are expected to write constructed answers in every subject and to use "higher order thinking," to think critically about every day problems. They are encouraged to use unique answers and understand their work.