August 15, 2007

LANSING - More than 94 percent of Michigan 11^th graders participating in the new Michigan Merit Exam (MME) this spring qualified to receive the $4,000 Michigan Promise Scholarship for their post-secondary education, the Michigan Department of Education reported today.

“For the first time in our state’s history, the Michigan Promise Scholarship offers every Michigan student the opportunity for a post-secondary education,” said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, who first proposed the scholarship in 2005. “ Students who continue their education beyond high school will be part of our highly-educated and skilled workforce and will help to transform Michigan ’s economy.”

Statewide results for the first Merit Exam were released to the public today, as were the results of the last Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) high school test for the graduating Class of 2007. A change in state law replaced the High School MEAP test with the Michigan Merit Exam.

In order to meet the new Michigan Promise Scholarship requirements, students were required to take the MME and receive valid scores.  To qualify for the up-front installment payments of the Michigan Promise Scholarship, students are required to meet or exceed state standards in reading, writing, mathematics, and science.  They will receive $1,000 during their freshman and sophomore years and earn the remaining $2,000 after successfully completing two years of post-secondary education.

Over 40,000 high school juniors who took the MME this spring qualified for the up-front payment of the $4,000 scholarship.

Those students who did not meet or exceed Michigan standards in all four of those subjects as 11^th graders have an opportunity to test again as seniors to qualify for early receipt of scholarship funds, or receive the $4,000 Promise Scholarship after successfully completing two years of a post-secondary education program.

Less than six percent of high school juniors who did not receive valid scores this spring will not qualify for a Michigan Promise Scholarship unless they take the complete MME either this fall or next spring. The fall re-testing period is October 27-31.

“These results are about what we expected in this first administration of the Merit Exam,” said State Board of Education President Kathleen N. Straus. “As the new rigorous state graduation requirements are implemented, and students are exposed to more knowledge, we will see an improvement in the scores.”

Students taking the MME also received scores on the ACT, a national college readiness assessment required or accepted by a vast majority of colleges in Michigan and the United States; and WorkKeys, a national work skills assessment accepted by many employers.   Students’ overall MME scores were based on the complete set of items on the ACT, WorkKeys, and additional test items that cover Michigan curriculum standards that are not included on those national tests. The average composite ACT score for the 122,820 juniors who took the MME this spring was 19.

The statewide ACT results reported separately today by the ACT testing company are for the graduating Class of 2007 and reflect the best score for those students after possibly taking the test multiple times. Those scores cannot be compared to the scores of the Michigan high school juniors who took the ACT as part of the MME this spring.

According to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan, one of the benefits of the new law is that virtually all students will take a college readiness exam, even those who had never considered going to college.

“We expect to see more students furthering their education because they’ll have taken more rigorous courses, demonstrated their abilities on the ACT, and have access to funding provided by the Michigan Promise Scholarship,” Flanagan said.

Those students who just graduated in the Class of 2007 had multiple opportunities to meet similar requirements on the now-discontinued High School MEAP test.  By the end of their senior year, 125,760 of the students qualified for the Michigan Promise Scholarship, with 54,182 qualifying for early receipt of the Scholarship funds.

Because this new MME is an entirely new test, it cannot be compared to past scores for the High School MEAP tests. However, the design intent of the new MME was to maintain approximately the same impact on schools’ ability to meet state standards for the purposes of calculating Adequate Yearly Progress.

“These Merit Exam results set the baseline for every year that follows,” Flanagan said. “As the new state curriculum is being integrated into high schools, it may be a year or two before we see real growth in test scores, but we have put in place for Michigan students the design for success.”

State results for both the new Michigan Merit Exam and the Class of 2007 High School MEAP test can be accessed from the Michigan Department of Education website: Michigan Merit Exam (MME) - Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP)