Michigan significantly raised the bar for its Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) last year, and the first test results are in: many students and schools have a long way to go to meet the new standards, according to an article in the Detroit Free Press.
Ford School professor of education policy Brian A. Jacob told the Free Press that the low pass rates should encourage schools to look at ways to boost student achievement.
"We were not being honest with ourselves if we continued to use very low proficiency cut-offs," Jacob said.
According to the author, "(Jacob) said there are no silver bullets, but schools need to turn to research-proven methods to improve student achievement. He said there is evidence that longer school days and longer school years are associated with higher student performance. Providing financial incentives to induce talented people to teach in high-need areas, like math, science and special education, is also promising, he said."