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DOWAGIAC — Dowagiac elementary and middle school students posted improvements on standardized test results, with most scores surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to district results the district shared during its Board of Education meeting Monday.

Dowagiac Deputy Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunn delivered an education report stating the district is making gains in M-STEP testing and that it is performing well compared to districts with similar enrollments and socioeconomic levels.

According to the Michigan Department of Education, the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP), is a computer-based assessment administered to grades 3-8 designed to gauge how well students are mastering standards developed to outline what students should know in order to be prepared to enter the workplace, career education training, and college.

DUS M-STEP scores 

Percent proficiency by year

Grade 3

2019 – 30.8 ELA, 25.2 Math

2023 – 29.6 ELA, 31.3 Math

2024 – 31.2 ELA, 39.1 Math

Grade 4

2019 – 23.2 ELA, 22.6 Math 

2023 – 32.2 ELA, 32.2 Math

2024 – 34.9 ELA, 31.8 Math

Grade 5

2019 – 29.1 ELA, 20.6 Math

2023 – 35.8 ELA, 21.6 Math

2024 – 29.9 ELA, 20. 4 Math

Grade 6

2019 – 26.2 ELA, 18.9 Math

2023 – 26.4 ELA, 18.4 Math

2024 – 40.0 ELA (2.5 above state average), 20.0 Math 

Grade 7

2019 – 26.9 ELA, 17.0 Math

2023 – 31.1 ELA, 23.8 Math

2024 – 38.0 (0.1 above state average) ELA, 20.7 Math 

Year-to-year growth 

Third grade – ELA 31.2 percent (+5.4 from ‘23), Math 39.1 percent (+24.9)

Fourth grade – ELA 34.9 percent (+8.4 ‘23), Math 31.8 percent (-1.2)

Fifth grade – ELA 29.9 percent (-16.5 ‘23), Math 20.4 percent (-5.6)

Sixth grade – ELA 40 percent (+51.5 ‘23), Math 20 percent (+8.7)

Seventh grade – ELA 38 percent (+20.6), Math 20.7 percent (-13.0)

Eighth grade – ELA 59.5 percent, Math 23.1 percent

“When you look at the rate of growth that we’re making compared to what the state’s making, we’re making greater gains than what the state is as a whole,” Dunn said. “If we can keep our rate higher than the state rate of growth, we are going to be on that collision course to meet or exceed. Our next step for this district, maybe in two, three years from now, we might see our schools back to what we used to know. We might see them named ‘Reward Schools.’ We might be back in striking distance of that which we haven’t seen for quite some time. So it’s a lot of work but we’ve got a lot of hope based on this data.”

The district also compared its results with seven school districts of similar enrollments (1,400-2,000 students), socioeconomic status (60 to 80 percent free/reduced meals) and special education (18 to 25 percent): Grant, South Haven, Alma, Caro, Oakridge, Comstock and South Lake. Dowagiac’s overall ELA and math results place it third in the group.

“Knowing what we have and are having to deal with, we’re performing pretty well,” Dunn said. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to tell ourselves we’re doing great – we’ve got to do better.”

“I also felt strongly about (comparing results with similar districts),” added Superintendent Greg Blomgren. “Having worked at school districts that follow that trend, It’s very hard to know where you stand in relation to your county schools where there are not similarities in most of those districts. We pulled these seven schools and when we look at where we stand with those schools, we are doing a very good job here in Dowagiac. This is really a great tell for us; It’s hard for us to compare ourselves to Edwardsburg or to St. Joseph or to a very small school district like Marcellus here in our county. So these numbers tell a good story when you look at like districts.”

Blomgren said the district is committed to continuing to improve student performance and is working to build a more equitable and inclusive school environment.

“If the bus drivers care every day, if the food service workers care every day today and when a kid makes a mistake, if we give them another chance to keep working with them to make the right choices and teachers can continue to get one percent better today, what impact can that have in our district,” Blomgren said. 

In addition, Blomgren said the district is working to improve its educational system by finding ways to provide teachers with more time together to collaborate on best practices and by creating professional learning communities for teachers to develop their skills.

“I think we have some ideas that we’ve talked about in terms of how we can get our teachers more time together so that they can say ‘hey in second grade on the math activity today, this really really worked,’ ‘Well you should try this with your second graders as well.’ So what power could that have if we could get teachers together once a week to talk about what’s working or how would that work?”

“That’s a shift, it’s an educational change, a philosophical change,” Blomgren continued. “I think if you look across the state, schools that have these professional learning communities to commit time,to their teachers being able to plan and collaborate on what the best practices are. It’s something that I want to talk to you guys about and try to move things in that direction.”