High school writing and math scores have shown an increase, according to results for the Michigan Merit Exam (MME) released recently by the Michigan Department of Education. High school juniors were tested this past spring on the MME, which includes the college entrance exam, the ACT Plus Writing®.

Over the past three years, the percentage of Michigan public school 11th graders who scored at the proficient or advanced levels in writing improved from 40 percent in 2007, to 41 percent in 2008, to 44 percent in 2009.

Math scores increased from 46 percent last year to 49 percent this year. Scores for other subjects over the past three years were virtually unchanged.

“This is good news for writing and math scores,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan, “but we still are not where we need to be overall, in getting all students to be college-ready.”

In the other subject areas, 11th grade students achieving proficient or advanced performance levels compared to 11th graders from the previous year were as follows: Reading 60 percent, down from 62 percent; English language arts 52 percent in both years; science 56 percent, down from 57 percent; and social studies 81 percent, up from 80 percent.

Included in the MME is the ACT college entrance exam. Michigan students who earned college reportable ACT scores as part of the state test had an average composite score of 19.0, which was up slightly from the 18.8 composite score for students taking the test in the previous two years.