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 High
School MEAP Likely Changing
Gongwer News Service, November 4, 2004
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As the high
school report cards were released from the 2003-04 school year,
it appeared certain that the test on which those report cards
were based would be changing.
The Senate Education Committee reported a package of bills
Thursday that would require the Department of Education to
replace the Michigan Educational Assessment Program high school
test with a nationally normed test, at least portions of which
could be used as a college entrance exam.
"We think a change in the high school test needs to be made,"
said Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), chair of the committee.
While Department of Education officials, who had opposed the
proposal as too expensive and not testing state standards,
grudgingly acknowledged that the train had left the station,
there was some disagreement over whether those tracks led to the
governor's desk.
Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Novi) said the proposal in the bills (SB
1153, SB 1154, SB 1155, SB 1156, SB 1157) was to be endorsed by
Lt. Governor John Cherry's Commission on Higher Education and
Economic Development, which has been charged with finding ways
to meet Governor Jennifer Granholm's goal of doubling college
graduation rates. "Now that the Cherry Commission is in support
of this, my hope is the administration will be as well," she
said.
But Ed Roeber, head of the MEAP office, said the commission was
not endorsing a wrap-around test, which would essentially add
science and social science tests to a national mathematics and
language arts test. He said the commission report would call for
an enhanced test, which would look more like a college placement
test than a college entrance exam such as the ACT or SAT.
"What the Cherry Commission said is the state needs to redo the
content standards and really raise the bar," Mr. Roeber said.
"The standards that kids need to accomplish are far more
rigorous than any of the three tests (ACT, SAT of MEAP)." He
envisioned a test that would essentially combine the placement
tests of the major universities, noting that students scoring
well on entrance exams can still be placed in remedial math by
the college tests.
Jim Ballard, executive director of the Michigan Association of
Secondary School Principals and one of the prime movers behind
the plan to use a standardized test at the high school level,
said original drafts of the report had called for the enhanced
test but that calls had come from the administration for the
report to essentially endorse the Senate bills.
Mr. Ballard argued that, as the new standards the Cherry
Commission is discussing are aimed at moving more students into
and through college, the material in those standards should
already be tested by the entrance exams such as the ACT.
The subcommittee working on the testing issue is expected to
have its report to the full commission in the coming days with a
final report from the Cherry Commission due in mid-December.
Liz Boyd, Ms. Granholm's press secretary, would not confirm
whether Mr. Cherry or other members of the administration were
backing the legislation. "This issue is of great importance to
the governor and something the Cherry Commission is looking
into," she said. "So we're going to reserve judgment until we
hear from the Cherry Commission."
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Watkins, who said he
had not necessarily opposed the bills but had wanted to make
clear the difficulties they would place on the department and
schools, said the process was moving in the right direction.
"We're working together to do it," he said of the department and
the Legislature. "My goal is to make sure whatever assessment we
use is going to benefit schools, teachers and especially the
children. ...The state that gets education right is going to be
the state that's going to rule economically in the 21st
Century."
Under the bills as reported, the department would have to
convert from the current MEAP test to a nationally normed
college entrance and work keys test with pieces added to cover
science and social science. Mr. Kuipers, chair of the committee,
said the bills would be amended on the Senate floor to require
the change by spring 2007.
The bills also would allow for dual administration of the
current test and the new test one year to provide a baseline for
determining both adequate yearly progress under the federal No
Child Left Behind Act and to set the cut scores for eligibility
for the Merit Award scholarship.
Mr. Kuipers said he had worked with House leadership on the
package and, while he expected some change, he said the bills
should be able to reach the governor's desk during the lame-duck
session.
The bills are also an improvement over original plans by leaving
it up to the Department of Education to choose the testing
vendor, Mr. Kuipers said. "We think the department is in a
better position to make that decision," he said.
The bills would require the department to at least look at an
online test vendor and would require that any test be approved
by the U.S. Department of Education as meeting federal
standards.
With the committee unanimously supporting the bills, at least in
concept (Sen. Irma Clark Coleman (D-Detroit) abstained until all
of the timeline issues had been addressed), Chief Academic
Officer Jeremy Hughes asked that they also support the funding
needed to implement the new tests. "It is going to cost more,"
he said. "I would hope that with the fervor and passion you had
supported this issue you would support the department through
the appropriations process."
He noted that the MEAP program has been cut each of the last
three years and is already short funding it needs to implement
new grade levels tests required under federal law. But he said
the administration is asking for further cuts for the 2005-06
budget.
In the alternative to budget support, he asked for language that
would allow the department to set aside parts of the program if
there is not money to support them.
Mr. Roeber said the department was already considering dropping
the social science test, which is not currently required under
federal law, and the constructed answer parts of other tests to
cut administrative costs.
And he showed department estimates that the new test would cost
$10.89 million a year, while the current MEAP test costs $8.53
million.
But Mr. Kuipers said there would be offsetting savings by
changing to the new test, including the time it takes to return
scores. "I'm not convinced it's going to be more costly to do
this testing than what we currently do," he said, noting that
witnesses to the committee have said it cut administration costs
for the schools.
And he said it would reduce costs to parents, who currently must
pay for their child to take a college entrance exam.
Mr. Ballard also continued to question whether the department's
cost figures for the MEAP include development costs, considering
estimates that the MEAP office is over-budget from having to
develop the new grade-level tests for elementary and middle
school.
Mr. Roeber said a hidden cost of the program could be federal
funds for schools.
While the federal law requires that schools show an increasing
number of students performing in the proficient range on the
test, he said ACT scores for Michigan students have not been
showing those kinds of improvements. "They've been rock solid
steady," he said. "My concern is it will set up high schools to
fail more than they do now."
School Report Cards Contain Good, Bad News
Gongwer News Service, November 4, 2004
More Michigan high schools got passing grades under the state's
school report card system, the Department of Education reported
Thursday, while at the same time more schools failed to meet
adequate yearly progress required by the federal government. The
mixed message led Governor Jennifer Granholm to call the
performance "unacceptable."
Worried that the performance could hurt Michigan's economic
competitiveness, Ms. Granholm called on Lt. Governor John
Cherry's Commission on Higher Education to find "bold solutions"
to boost high school performance.
According to the Department of Education, 625 high schools out
of the state's 937 high schools got state grades of "C" or
better for the 2003-04 academic year. The year before, 507
schools got "C" grades or better.
But that improvement was offset by the fact that fewer high
schools showed adequate yearly progress as required by the
federal No Child Left Behind Act. In fact, 75 fewer schools made
AYP.
For 2004, a total of 501, or 53.3 percent of the high schools,
made AYP. The year before the number was 576, or 64.6 percent.
Most of the 436 schools that failed to make AYP did so for poor
academic performance. However, 89 of the schools did not meet
the 80 percent graduation rate also set by the federal law.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Watkins said the
results show the state has to do more to get students ready for
college and 21st century employment.
And Ms. Granholm said the state has to do more to raise
educational attainment. Failing to do so would hurt the state
competitively.
The commission chaired by Mr. Cherry is supposed to develop
proposals to double the number of college graduates in Michigan.
But Ms. Granholm said that goal could not be reached if the
state did not improve its overall high school academic
performance.
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