The Michigan Department of Education recently announced they are considering the addition of another standardized assessment. The new assessment will cover additional objectives not specified in M-Step (Michigan Student test of educational progress) which the department implemented for the 2014-2015 school year.
The announcement came because Michigan has a goal they would like to reach. In the next 10 years, Michigan has said they will be a top ten education state. To reach this goal, the department believes they need to add additional assessments that will assess critical thinking, problem-solving and the ability to communicate effectively.
According to their department of education, the new assessment would take place multiple times during the school year. Schools and districts will have a better overall picture of the students progress throughout the year. If the new assessment is added, it will not replace the M-Step completely. It would ensure that the students would not have to take it as frequently as they do now. They would only need to take the assessment once in the elementary grades, and once in middle school. In this manner, the pressure of a single assessment once a year to measure progress would be reduced.
Some board members question why the State wants to change the assessments yet again. The answer to this is simple. States across the country are finding their niche and perfecting standards, and methods of assessing student progress. We have many states doing the exact same thing being considered in Michigan. Is more frequent assessments the answer? Only time will tell.
Article referenced: http://michiganradio.org/post/michigan-education-officials-consider-adding-new-more-frequent-standardized-testing#stream/0
