Are you having trouble understanding the numbers on your child’s MLC Evaluation Test score report?

Matt Olive, Assistant Director of the MEK Learning Circles, will bring you step-by-step through reading your score report and understanding how your child’s score correlates to their academic standing and our course recommendations!

If you haven’t taken an MLC Evaluation Test and are interested in starting the MLC registration process, click here! Our free MLC Evaluation Test is self-administered virtually through our Canvas platform. 

Understanding the Math Section of Your Child’s Score Report

The Math Student Evaluation Score Report is broken up into 3 main sections: Overall Score, Topics, and Application.

Section One: Overall Score and Course Recommendations

This is the overall percentage of questions your student answered correctly on the evaluation test. Generally, an overall score of…

• Higher than 80%: we recommend that you take the Student Evaluation of the next grade level for accurate course placement
• 50% to 80%: placement in Problem Solving Math course of your grade level
• 15% to 50%: placement in Operations & Number Sense course of your grade level
• Less than 15%: we recommend private tutoring instead of our MLC courses

Keep in mind that these standards change based on the time of year in which your child takes their student evaluation. For example, in the spring, we have higher cut-offs to account for students’ greater exposure to grade-level math topics.

Section Two: Topics

This is where you can find the breakdown of your child’s conceptual understanding. These topic breakdowns follow New Jersey Common Core Standards. They allow our expert counselors to identify your student’s strengths and weaknesses. By matching this information with your student’s current grade level, current math class, and where they are in the school year we can make an accurate assessment of what your student needs when they come to MEK.

Don’t worry if the numbers of questions don’t add up! Some of the questions will fit into multiple topic categories.

Section Three: Application

This is an important section for deciding whether your student should be in a Problem Solving Math (PSM) class or an Operation & Number Sense (ONS) class.

Students with higher Direct Solving skills will usually be placed into a PSM class because they showed strong calculation skills on the evaluation. Students with lower Direct Solving percentages will be placed into the Operations and Number Sense class to improve their calculation skills.

On the other hand, students will improve their calculation skills in PSM class. So, if a student shows high Word Problem skills, they may be recommended to take the next level student evaluation exam.

Understanding the English Section of Your Child’s Score Report

The English Student Evaluation Score Report is broken up into 3 main sections: Overall Score, Reading, and Writing

Section One: Overall Score

This is the overall percentage of questions your student answered correctly on the evaluation test. Unlike the Math placement, English MLC class placement is less based on the overall score, and more based on the combination of Reading and Writing scores. However, this is a good measure of where your student is now and the big picture that the combination of the two scores yields.

Section Two: Reading

Your student’s reading score is based on their ability to read a passage and answer questions that require them to:

• Make inferences
• Identify the main idea
• Demonstrate higher level reading comprehension
• Define vocabulary

The topic is broken down into objectives that correlate to the Common Core State Standards, which you can read about in this blog post, where we go into more detail about what this entails.

Generally, a reading score of…

• 60% or higher: placement in Critical Reading or Writing course of your grade level
• Lower than 60%: placement in Vocabulary course of your grade level

Like the Math course placement, English course placement does vary based on the time of year and the availability of courses. Not all English MLC courses are available during every term. Please refer to your provided course recommendation for the most accurate measure of your student’s performance.

Section Three: Writing

Your student’s writing score is based on their ability to read a passage and answer questions that require them to structure and write an essay using appropriate grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary.

Generally, a writing score of…

• 60% or higher: placement in Critical Reading course of your grade level
• Lower than 60%: placement in Writing course of your grade level

These writing standards are only applicable to students who have reading scores of 60% or higher. However, it is uncommon for students scoring reading scores of below 60% to score above a 60% on the writing evaluation.

In the MLC Writing classes, students will build stronger writing foundations, after which they can join the Critical Reading class of their grade level. In MLC Critical Reading classes, students will be expected to independently write five-paragraph essays.

What’s Next?

If you’ve already taken an MLC Evaluation Test and received your score report and course recommendation, all that’s left is your course registration! Click here to get started!

If you haven’t taken a student evaluation yet, what are you waiting for? Sign up today to find out where you are versus where you want to be.

I hope to see you soon!