As some of you might have seen in the news, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) announced yesterday that they will be shortening some components of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (MSTEP). One of the major concerns that school leaders and teachers across the state had regarding the MSTEP was the amount of time being spent testing. I personally attended a meeting with representatives from MDE in June and voiced my frustrations over the insane length of these assessments. Thankfully, the powers that be listened to our frustrations and have made the necessary changes. The biggest change is around the length of time that our 11th grade students are being tested in the spring. Last year, the 11th grade students took all four components of the MSTEP, along with the ACT and WorkKeys, which resulted in a large amount of testing time. This spring, the Michigan Merit Exam will consist of the SAT, Work Keys, Science MSTEP, and Social Studies MSTEP. The subtraction of the English and Math MSTEP will reduce state-required testing time in 11th grade by up to 8 hours. The other change focuses on our 3rd grade to 8th grade students. For the 2016 MSTEP, the Performance Task portion of the English language arts assessment will only be administered once in elementary school (grade 5) and once in middle school (grade 8). This change reduces testing time in the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th grades by two and a half hours.
I have the honor of being selected as one of the 2015-2016 Michigan Educator Voice Fellows through America Achieves. Public education has been a passion of mine since a very early age. My mother just retired from the Lansing Public Schools after 30+ years of teaching 5th grade. The Michigan Educator Voice Fellowship allows me to advocate for public education, along side some of the best educators in the state of Michigan. During my time at the two-day launch convention in Grand Rapids, I was able to discover two items that have ignited a passion within me: Teacher Evaluations and Michigan's College and Career Readiness Curriculum (i.e. "common core"). Throughout the next few months, I will be rolling out some blogs and op-ed pieces focusing on these two key issues. I encourage everyone to pay attention to these issues as they are discussed by our Congressmen and women in Lansing, specifically SB 103 (teacher and administrator performance evaluations) and the discussion over our state curriculum. As always, please discuss these issues with me and how they will impact the quality of education for our students at Byron Center Charter.
Today, the Michigan Department of Education announced that beginning in the spring of 2016 High School Juniors will not be given the SAT assessment, instead of the traditional ACT. Since 2008, Michigan students have taken the ACT assessment and our students have met this challenge head on for the last six years. For example, the average composite score of a Michigan student in 2008 was a 19.6. In 2014, the average composite was a 20.1. Here at Byron Center Charter School the average composite score in 2014 was 20.1, which was higher than both the GVSU Charter School average (17.3) and the State of Michigan average (19.8). Why the change in going to the SAT instead of the ACT? The press release sent out by the Michigan Department of Education states that the College Board, which oversees the creation and administration of the SAT, won the state contract through a bidding process in which their bid was $15.4 million lower than their closest competition (Michigan Department of Education, 2015). Michael Boulus, the executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan, says in a Detroit News article, “It's very clear from the news release that this was done purely out of cost savings, with little concern for the students and the admissions process we've been using for years. You just don't reverse that” (Higgins, 2015). Schools and educators have invested countless time, energy, and money into preparing our students for the ACT assessment, which is also used as an entrance requirement for the majority of Michigan’s colleges and universities. This change does come as a surprise to me due to all the uncertainty facing the state in regards to a possible new state curriculum, new assessments to take over for the abandoned MEAP, and the planned overhaul of school accountability methods. What makes the shift even more concerning is that the College Board has previously announced that they planned a complete overhaul of the assessment beginning in 2016. Even college leaders have yet to see the proposed changes to the SAT and how it will alter the assessment. In other words, the state of Michigan has decided to abandon the one consistent piece of their school assessment model (the ACT) in the face of daunting educational inconsistencies.
So the big question being asked by parents across the state is: what is the difference? The ACT is a content knowledge based assessment that has five sections: English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing. The questions on the ACT are traditionally much easier for students to decipher and students are not penalized for incorrect answers. While the SAT focuses on reasoning and only assess Critical Reading, Math, and Writing. The questions can be very confusing for students to decipher and students lose a quarter of a point for any incorrect or incomplete answer. So, on the surface the ACT tends to fit the unique needs of all of Michigan’s students much better than the SAT. The state does list in their press release the steps they plan on taking in helping schools get prepared for this change through Professional Development, training, and providing preparation materials. I assure you the teachers and staff of Byron Center Charter School will work diligently in preparing our students for this new challenge, the same way we met the ACT challenge head on. References: Higgins, L. (2015, January 7). Michigan to dump act for sat as high school requirement. Detroit News. Retrieved from http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/01/07/michigan-replaces-act-sat/21385299/ Michigan Department of Education. (2015). State awards future college assessment to college board. Retrieved from website: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140--344785--,00.html Articles to Read: ACT vs SAT: Key differences between the ACT and SAT: http://www.studypoint.com/ed/act-vs-sat/ The SAT vs. the ACT: http://www.princetonreview.com/sat-act.aspx As I posted on numerous Social Media websites, the Michigan Department of Education has announced its plans for changes to their traditional assessment piece, the MEAP. Beginning this spring, students will take the M-STEP in English (3-8, 11), Math (3-8, 11), Science (4, 7, 11), and Social Studies (4, 7, 11). Change has become one of the very few constants in education. Not only will the M-STEP be replaced as early as 2016 by a new assessment tool, many state's have proposed to do away with the Common Core Curriculum. In my previous educational experience in North Carolina, students were subjected to numerous standardized test administered by the state. In elementary and middle school, students were administered End-of-Grade Tests in English, Math, and Science. High school students took End-of-Course Tests in English II, Math 1, and Biology; as well as NC Final Exams in all other tests at the end of each class. Sprinkle in field tests, WIDA assessments for English Language Learners, and the ACTs (PLAN, EXPLORE, and ACT). I am pleased with how the state of Michigan is addressing the need for more student assessments compared to when I first taught in Michigan back in 2005. Standardized testing accomplishes two main goals: one is accountability for teachers and two is essential data for educators. By accountability for educators, I do not mean using test scores to judge the performance of teachers. Using test scores to judge teacher performance is like using crop yield to judge the effectiveness of a farmer without accounting for droughts, storms, or disease. When I say accountability, I am referring to the fact that having an assessment model at the end of a course causes a teacher to ensure that they teach their entire curriculum. In 2005, I could have taught the Civil War for the entire year and there would have been no assessment tool holding me accountable. The second part of student assessments is perhaps the most important: data. The result of student assessments, such as the NWEA, gives educators essential information on the strengths and weaknesses of our students. Effective teaching begins with assessing the strengths and weaknesses of students and differentiating their instruction to improve and accelerate their skills. Without data from standardized tests, much of this important information would not be available. Standardized testing is not a negative component of education, as long as we don’t let it. Over testing will taint the data pool and give us very little information that can be deemed useful. With all of this said, we cannot make Common Core out to the enemy. Standardized testing was here before Common Core, and will be here after it. Rejecting Common Core will only cost the state more money we don’t have to replace the standards and to align our assessments with whatever standards we agree upon. Instead, we need to embrace what we have and work together to find the most effective way to maximize student learning. After all, it is the development of our children that we should be the most concerned with.
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AuthorPrincipal, Alpena High School Archives
March 2021
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