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 M.E.A.P.
Alternative Drawing Cheers, Concerns
Gongwer News Service, October 26, 2003
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The Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals is
pushing to switch at least high school students from taking the
Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests to the ACT, and
Governor Jennifer Granholm this week said she would be willing
to consider alternatives to the venerable state test.
Ms. Granholm's announcement, made as she was announcing moving
the MEAP back to the Department of Education, has raised some
concerns among supporters of the test and drawn cheers from
opponents.
The concerns rose Thursday after a presentation to the State
Board of Education that indicated adopting the ACT would cost
the state more than it is currently paying to administer the
MEAP.
"She's wise to look at alternatives, but this one isn't going to
fly and shouldn't," said Jim Sandy with the Michigan Business
Leaders for Education Excellence, which has been a long-time
backer of standardized tests and accreditation systems. "Those
people thinking you can do an off the shelf test need to do a
little more research."
Mr. Sandy said a key problem with the ACT or any other national
test is it may not align with the standards Michigan has set for
the various grade levels.
Ray Telman with the Middle Cities Education Association said his
members raised some similar concerns in a recent survey he
conducted on the issue. "It may save 'x' millions of dollars,
but will it align with our current standards and benchmarks?
Will we have to redo the model curriculum? Will it mean more
professional development?" he said was a common response to the
call for changing the test.
But he said just as common were those calling for elimination of
the test by people who feel the current test is not being used
properly or who feel that the current problems with getting back
results have made the test untrustworthy-or both.
Even some of those calling for elimination of the test raised
concerns about what might replace it.
"Almost everybody would agree it isn't being applied the way it
was meant," Mr. Telman said.
Mr. Sandy expected there to be some change in the state's test.
"I think there will be changes and I think they will be positive
changes," he said.
Dan Quisenberry with the Michigan Association of Public School
Academies said the MEAP is used in many ways for which it was
not intended.
Mr. Quisenberry said he had not heard from his members on the
proposed change, but suspected the key issues for them would be
having some standardized test. "There's always interest in if
there's a better system," he said. "We also think it's important
that there's some kind of indicator there."
Teachers unions are particularly happy to see at least
discussions on changing the test.
"I think you wouldn't find a teacher alive who wouldn't find
that to be a good idea," said Paula Long, a teacher in the
Michigan School Readiness Program at Taylor Public Schools and a
member of the Michigan Federation of Teachers and School Related
Personnel. "With the budget, it makes sense to replace it with
something that doesn't change all the time."
"We don't support high stakes testing at any level," said
Margaret Trimer-Hartley with the Michigan Education Association.
She said diagnostic testing for schools is necessary, but the "MEAP
sometimes has been used for political purposes."
Ms. Long argued that test results had been changed to reverse
some positive trends on the test. "The reading scores were up
across the state, so they bring in the new way of calculating
language arts that brought everybody's scores down," she said.
And Ms. Trimer-Hartley said the recent delays in returning test
results have further eroded the credibility of the test.
Ms. Trimer-Hartley said the change to the ACT at the high school
level would have the dual benefit of potentially saving the
state some money and saving high school students some stress.
"It removes one less test from the average high schooler's
life," she said.
But she said a change at the elementary level might require more
thought. "The MEAP itself is a high quality instrument and it is
an essential skills, not a basic skills, test, so it is a harder
test than some of the other tests out there," Ms. Trimer-Hartley
said. "Sometimes you have to consider what you have and be
careful what you're asking for."
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