FeedsNorthville students excel on state progress test
Once again, Northville students have demonstrated above average performance on state testing in all areas.
Despite the ongoing financial concerns facing the board of education members and district administrators, testing results indicate that state funding cuts have not yet affected students.
“Our high school curriculum is rigorous and our students meet the challenge,” said Northville High School Principal Rob Watson.
This is the fourth year high school junior across the state took the Michigan Merit Exam (MME) which replaced the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test for high school students.
These scores are one factor used by the state to determine if individual high schools achieve Adequate Yearly Progress as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
This year, 86 percent of Northville students performed at the proficient or advanced level in reading against a state average of 65 percent. Northville students performed at 77 percent proficient or advanced in writing, while the state average is 44 percent. In math, 78 percent of Northville students were advanced or proficient which the state average is only 50 percent and in science, 84 percent of Northville students were proficient or advanced while only 58 percent was the state average.
In Social Studies, however, Northville students displayed at 92 percent proficient or advanced score against the 79 percent state average.
“The performance by our students on the tests is the direct result of the strong partnership between our students, teachers and parents that focuses on success for all students,” Watson said.
While board members cheered the success of the students, worries about current finances still plague the district.
Earlier this month, the state Legislature approved a School Aid spending bill for the 2010 year that restores $11 of the $165 in per pupil funding cut by the state in 2009-2010. For Northville, that was about $76,000 returned to an operating budget or more than $50 million.
According to Superintendent of Schools Leonard Rezmierski, the district is still down $475 per student or about $3.3 million from 2008-2009.
“We are heartened by the Legislature’s decision to act now on the School Aid Fund and restore even a small amount of funding,” Rezmierski. “At the same time, the state has in no way signaled that it will restore the deep cuts the district has sustained over the past several years-including the loss of 20j funding-nor has there been any significant move to make structural changes in how public schools will be funded in Michigan in the future.”
