Data Shows How 3rd and 4th Grade Test Scores Vary Among Demographic Groups
(Kurt Metzger, Oct. 8, 2024)
Oakland County, MI – The reopening of the majority of Michigan public schools after Labor Day brought new attendance and test score results for the 2023-24 school year. This series of articles will look at what these data tell us about K-12 education in Oakland County. The first article explored chronic absenteeism across the county from the perspective of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability and English learners. This article looks at 3rd and 4th grade English/reading proficiency.
All children need to learn to read. Reading is the most crucial academic skill because it is the foundation for learning. Through third grade children are learning to read; after third grade they are reading to learn, as children begin to apply their reading skills to other subjects like math, science, and history. Third grade reading proficiency represents an inflection point – setting a child on-track for high-school graduation and life success. Reading at level in 3rd grade is the number one indicator of high school graduation. This is regardless of poverty or parental education status.
Students who cannot read proficiently at their grade level by the end of 3rd grade are four times more likely than their proficient counterparts to drop out of high school and are more likely to experience long-term behavioral and mental health issues.
Due to the extreme importance placed on 3rd grade reading proficiency, I wanted to see how well Oakland County public school students are doing. Students are given M-STEP tests in the Spring of each year. I decided to look at English (ELA) scores for both 3rd and 4th graders as a way of understanding whether the gaps seen in absenteeism carries over to test outcomes.
The first chart looks at the shares of 3rd grade students demonstrating a lack of proficiency in English Language Arts. If you look at the previous article, you will see that the absentee chart is very similar. More than three quarters (77.6 percent) of African American and 63.1 percent of Hispanic students across the county were judged to be non-proficient in reading. This compared to an overall rate of 52.5 percent. MORE THAN HALF OF OAKLAND COUNTY 3RD GRADERS ARE NOT PROFICIENT IN READING!
While significant differences occurred in the English speaking and Disability categories, the largest overall gap – 44 percentage points – existed between those judged ‘Economically disadvantaged’ and those were not.
In order to further understand the issue, I decided to take a look at 4th grade scores to see if the 3rd grade reading problem has been addressed and improved upon. [Note: I recognize that we are looking at different students in this analysis, rather than following a cohort from 3rd to 4th. Since the issue is not a new one, we can assume that these 4th graders had similar issues when they were in 3rd grade in the 2022-23 school year.
The second chart looks at 4th grade outcomes. While I am pleased to say that the share of non-proficiency decreased for Every group, the smallest improvements occurred for African American students, English learners, students with disabilities, and the economically disadvantaged. The greatest improvement was shown by Hispanic and white students.
My final piece in this series will focus on English Language Arts proficiency among Economically Disadvantaged 4th grade students across Oakland County’s public school districts.
For more stories about the Census and other interesting numbers, visit the Data-Base Stories Archives on Oakland County Times. Thanks to Data Expert Kurt Metzger for this work!
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Students Missing School: What the Data in Oakland County Shows about Chronic Absenteeism
