Lake Orion students above state average in core subjects

By Megan Kelley
Review Writer
LAKE ORION — During its meeting on Oct. 26, the Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education received the first of its annual presentations on student achievement throughout the district.
This specific presentation included M-STEP, PSAT and SAT results, as well as data on social emotional learning (mySAEBRS) and advanced placement (AP) courses.
“State test scores improved pretty much across the state,” said district data specialist Kirk Webber at the onset of his presentation. “We want to look at specifically what’s going on with Lake Orion, of course, but just know; in most cases, our results were as good or better than other districts when we’re comparing.”
M-STEP
According to district documents, statewide, 54.5 percent of districts increased their achievement scores in English language arts (ELA) and 55.9 percent increased their math achievement scores. This data was pulled from the state assessments (M-STEP) given in the spring of the 2021-22 school year.
In Lake Orion, across the district in grades three through seven, ELA proficiency jumped three percent to 62.2 percent of students rating proficient or advanced in the subject.
Math scores also improved with an overall 4.5 percent increase from last year, with 52.5 percent of students rating proficient or advanced in the subject. The state averages for ELA and math were 40.7 percent and 33.4 percent, respectively.
When it comes to performance trends in the four core academic areas (math, science, social studies and ELA), Lake Orion saw an increase from the previous year in all but one category; social studies.
ELA saw an increase from 59 percent meeting the standard to 62 percent; math increased from 48 percent to 52 percent; science increased from 34 percent to 54 percent; while social studies decreased from 42 percent meeting standard to 38 percent.
District documents show a trend in social studies when broken down by grade level, showing a one-point increase in achievement in grades five and eight but an 18-point decrease in 11th grade M-STEP results.
Despite the drop, Lake Orion’s 48 percent proficiency still outperformed neighboring districts Clarkston Community Schools (33 percent proficiency) and Oxford Community Schools (34 percent proficiency).
“As we look at things that are happening around Oakland County and so-forth, we were negative 18, the county was negative 15 and the state was down negative eight. No one was up. When we look at ourselves ranked in the county, we typically are in the top 10 in social studies scores and I think we were eighth,” Webber said. “Not like we’re trying to brag or anything, but we did better than Clarkston and Oxford.”
Webber himself had a few theories on what could have contributed to the large decrease in social studies across the state.
“That test did not do well for a lot of schools. And it’s not something we want to dismiss, I’m not trying to make excuses, it’s just kind of an odd situation,” said Webber. “The things that I like to consider on that are; this 11th grade group, this (current) group of seniors, are COVID freshmen.”
With Lake Orion High School’s modified block schedule, this means that as freshmen, there is potential for some of these students to have missed an entire semester of 9th grade World History or 10th grade U.S. History, Webber explained.
According to Webber, the test is expected to be changed next year (2023-24) with the introduction of new questions.
“The 2024 test, we’ll have basically a totally different test,” said Webber.
Reading and Math screeners
As the district typically does in the fall, teachers administered math and reading screeners to grades Kindergarten through 8th grade.
Across the district, 74 percent of students in K-8 fell into the low-risk category, up two percent from the year before, in both reading and math.
“(We are) two percentage points better, but we’re not slipping. We’d like to see more than two but that’s where we’re at,” Webber said.
Both reading and math show about eight percent of students falling into the high-risk category. Those would be the students who would likely receive intervention support.
MySAEBRS (Social, Academic and Emotional Risk Screener)
The SAEBRS and mySAEBRS framework consists of both teachers performing evaluations and students evaluating themselves.
District data showed that when evaluated by teachers, 86 percent of elementary school students were low risk, with 12 percent marked as some risk and two percent as high risk.
“When I talked to the leadership group yesterday, Jennifer Goethals (principal of Webber Elementary) made a good point that last year was the first year that we really had started having teachers do this and they were probably being a little kinder. Not trying to be mean, they were probably just trying to be nice, but that doesn’t help us as much. They need to be as honest as possible about things so we can use this tool effectively so they’re probably getting better at doing it,” said Webber.
Students begin taking mySAEBRS and evaluating themselves in 4th grade. When evaluating themselves, 86 percent of students in grades four through eight were also low risk, with 13 percent listed as some risk and about one percent were high risk.
This year, ninth graders will also be participating in the mySAEBRS screener, which is planned for the end of November.
High School Achievement
“We have a team that has been meeting a number of times this fall, and we’ll continue to meet, to figure out what sort of data points we can work on to evaluate high school achievement,” said Webber. “This is something that is challenging. It’s something all these other districts are trying to figure out as well because things change when you get to the high school. Sometimes it’s also about graduating and credit recovery and those sorts of things, so it gets a little more complicated.”
Plans this year include monitoring ELA and math achievement in grades 9-11, while also reviewing data for block and skinny classes.
The district will also track the number of students in AP classes and how many are taking the tests and passing them.
Advanced Placement
District data shows that 71 percent of Lake Orion students who take AP tests score a three or better, which is a passing grade. Those who receive a four or five on the exam generally earn college credit for the course, and students who receive a three sometimes can earn credit too.
“Threes or higher is what we’re striving for. Fours and fives are what we really want,” said Webber.
According to LOCS, there were 332 AP students in 2022 with 516 tests being administered and 235 students earning a three or higher. Compared to past years, the number of AP students has declined, with 475 students taking AP courses in 2020 and 73 percent taking the AP exam.
During 2021 and 2022, that percentage has decreased to 52 percent and 64 percent, respectively, taking the exam.
“We were trending up every year going into 2020. We administered 753 AP exams that year,” Webber said. “Now, we have it where in 2021 we had more students taking classes than actually taking tests. And last year, we were about even, we were getting better.”
AP exams work differently than general education exams in the sense that students must pay to take it.
Going forward, the district is looking at how to encourage more students to take their AP exams.
Broken down by subject, when students do take the exam, a majority of students do receive a three or higher with English at 71 percent of students, math at 82 percent of students, history at 60 percent of students and science at 75 percent of students passing.
PSAT/SAT
Composite scores from the SAT that were administered in the spring of 2022 show Lake Orion’s average score at 1042, well above the state average of 961. Lake Orion was also just one point below the national average of 1043.
“Keep in mind, everyone in the state of Michigan takes the SAT so our numbers are everyone. The state of Michigan always has lower number averages because we give it to everyone,” Webber said. “The fact that we’re at 1042 compared to the national average of 1043 is pretty good.”
Percentages of 11th grade students who met standards on the SAT were 68 percent in English and 42 percent in math. Both of which were above both county and state averages.
Additionally, the average scores for the PSAT 9/8 were 932 while the PSAT 10 was 967.