What is M-STEP?
Michigan public-school students in grades 3 through 8 take the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) each spring in English Language Arts and Math. Science is added at grades 5, 8, and 11; Social Studies at grades 5, 8, and 11. High school students take the SAT and PSAT as part of the state assessment system.
What does "% Advanced + Proficient" mean?
It is the percentage of students at the school whose scores were "Proficient" or "Advanced" on M-STEP — the top 2 of 4 performance levels (Not Proficient, Partially Proficient, Proficient, Advanced). Proficient and above is Michigan's grade-level benchmark. A higher number is better.
What does 36.6% mean for English Language Arts at Ferndale Middle School?
It means about 36.6 percent of students tested at Ferndale Middle School performed at grade level or above on the M-STEP English Language Arts test in 2024-25. The statewide average for Michigan that year was 47.7%. The other students fell into the lower performance levels.
How is the state average calculated?
It is a weighted average, not a simple average of each school's number. We multiply each public school's score by how many of its students tested, add those together for all schools in Michigan, and divide by the total students tested that year. This way a big school with 1,500 students counts more than a small school with 50 students, which is the right way to ask "how did the typical student do this year?". District and county averages on this page use the same method, just scoped to that district or county.
Where does this data come from?
Michigan Department of Education / Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI), Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP), via the MI School Data "Request School Data File" portal (mischooldata.org). School-level All Students subgroup. Headline metric is the cumulative "Advanced + Proficient" rate (top 2 of 4 M-STEP levels: Advanced, Proficient, Partially Proficient, Not Proficient).
How often is it updated?
M-STEP is administered once a year (spring). Results are released by the state in the summer or early fall. We refresh this page after each annual release.
