MEAP Doesn’t Always Mean MEAP.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

If you visit Marquette Elementary / Middle school, and begin talking about MEAP as we commonly define it, you’ll soon discover that you’re on a different conversational path.

At Marquette, the teachers have literally brought new meaning to that acronym. MEAP at Marquette means Marquette’s Educational Academic Push which they created. It defines an aggressive, academic improvement program that, well, is designed to ultimately improve the students’ MEAP (traditional) scores. Workshop sessions that focus on the core curriculum areas (math, science, reading and social studies) are being held on 6 Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Each child attends three academic sessions, participates in a team-teaching presentation and has lunch. The sessions are structured to get students more involved in the learning process. Example…the science lesson about liquids and solids called for the students to make ice cream. In a reading workshop, the students created an origami poster that opened up to reveal tips for improving their reading scores. The focus of the program is on 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th graders. 450 students are participating with about 35 teaching professionals. The smaller learning groups are also a benefit for the students but of equal importance is the parent component. They were a part of the planning, securing supplies and finding sponsors. Building on their success, the Marquette staff are hoping to be able to hold their MEAP sessions monthly and focus more on 6th- 8th grade students. For more information about Marquette’s new MEAP, call Cynthia Williams-LaNier at 417-9362.