MEAP
vs. ACT: Myth vs. Fact
State Testing Should Focus on What’s Best For Students,
Teachers, and Schools
Michigan Department of Education, May 4, 2004
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https://www.bridges4kids.org.
Certain
education organizations are engaged in a campaign to replace the
high school MEAP test with the ACT college entrance exam.
The Michigan Department of Education and the State Board of
Education constantly are looking at ways to improve education
and maximize dollars. We want what’s best for teachers,
students, and schools.
The department’s nationally-respected testing expert, Dr. Ed
Roeber, as well Dr. Jeremy Hughes, the department’s Chief
Academic Officer, and independent outside experts have looked at
the facts and have come to the conclusion that this ACT proposal
does not measure up. The ACT would not meet Michigan’s high
standards, is much more costly, and will have great difficulty
helping our schools meet the requirements of the federal No
Child Left Behind Act.
In fact, moving to the ACT would be a step back from the high,
rigorous standards Michigan has implemented to establish us as a
national leader in student testing. We want high, rigorous
academic standards for our students with the appropriate means
to measure achievement.
This decision ought not be whether students and administrators
like the MEAP test or not, but rather, what’s best for students
in preparing them to compete and be successful in a global, 21st
Century economy.
We look forward to working with the Legislature and providing
the policymakers with the facts. We ask the Legislature to take
a thoughtful, fair, and objective approach to this debate to do
what is best for the students.
The State Board of Education, after a thorough review, voted
unanimously in January 2004 to maintain the MEAP test. To
discontinue the use of MEAP, which is tied to Michigan’s high
rigorous academic standards, would be a step backward for our
schools, teachers, and most importantly our children.
Myth vs. Fact: About the ACT Replacing the MEAP High School
Test
Myth 1: The State Board of Education has voted to oppose this
switch from the MEAP to the ACT.
Fact: True. The statewide-elected, bipartisan State Board of
Education unanimously voted in January 2004 to maintain the MEAP
test over switching to the ACT test. This decision was made
after exhaustive research and presentations by national experts
from inside and outside of the Department of Education.
Myth 2: The Education Alliance of Michigan supports and
recommends that the ACT college entrance exam replace the MEAP
High School Test.
Fact: False. The Education Alliance issued a report to the
Legislature in February 2004. That report did not recommend the
change. Rather, it recommended further study:
“Before a final decision is reached, the following actions
should be taken:
1. Determine
which content areas currently tested by a MEAP High School Test
would be required in a new Michigan Merit Exam
2. Compute the
cost of the Michigan Merit Exam provided by a company such as
ACT with augmentation as required.
3. Seek approval from the U.S. Department of Education for the
new Michigan Merit Exam.”
Myth 3: The results that schools and students receive from
the ACT test are as detailed and useful as results from the
MEAP.
Fact: False. The ACT gives students a number score from 1 to 36.
If a student, for instance, gets a score of 22, an accompanying
document tells what a typical student with a score of 22 ought
to know and be able to do in mathematics, reading, or science.
It does not say what that particular student knows or can do.
There is no ACT report that provides specific educational
strengths or weaknesses, either of individual students or the
school as a whole. The ACT test will not help schools diagnose
where their students need improved instruction to improve and
meet the state’s rigorous academic standards.
On the other hand, MEAP High School Test results are reported by
educational skill at the school level, and in the future, will
once again be reported at the student level. By state law, 50
percent of the questions on the high school MEAP tests must be
replaced each year, with those questions released to the public
so students and schools can use the questions from the previous
year’s tests to identify areas where students were weak and
curriculum or instruction needs to be improved. The ACT does not
routinely release its test questions.
Myth 4: Ninety (90) percent of Michigan High School
principals support switching the MEAP High School test with the
ACT.
Fact: False. The Michigan Association of Secondary School
Principals (MASSP) conducted a survey of its 2,084 members on
this issue. Only 23 percent of the members responded, of which
76 percent said they wanted to replace MEAP with the ACT (for a
total of less than 20 percent of the high school principals). A
23 percent response is not a statistically valid sample to make
the assumption that (nearly all) high school principals in
Michigan support this proposal. In fact, many high school
principals and teachers support keeping the MEAP test.
Myth 5: The broader education community supports switching
from the MEAP to the ACT.
Fact: False. Joining with the State Board of Education and the
Michigan Department of Education in opposing this switch is a
growing number of individuals and educational organizations,
including: the Michigan Science Teachers Association, Michigan
Council of Social Studies Teachers, the Michigan Association of
School Psychologists; and former State Board of Education member
Michael Warren.
Myth 6: The ACT will take less time out of the school day to
administer.
Fact: Not necessarily true. MEAP testing now takes about two
hours per test, for four tests (Math, Science, Social Studies,
English Language Arts), equaling eight hours. Schools normally
choose to spread these tests over four days because research and
common sense demonstrate that there is test fatigue. Spreading
out the test over multiple days is a benefit to students and
gives a more accurate portrayal of what they know and are able
to do.
The ACT alone is a four-hour test. It is not a comprehensive
testing program, nor could it be in Michigan. In Illinois, where
use of the ACT test has been cited as a possible model for
Michigan, testing takes the same eight hours. In Illinois, the
ACT is supplemented with the WorkKeys test; a writing test; a
social studies test; and a science test.
Myth 7: The ACT will reduce the amount of classroom time
being spent on test preparation.
Fact: False. Instead of “teaching to the MEAP,” schools will be
“teaching to the ACT.” The statewide assessment test, be it the
MEAP or the ACT, will continue to be a high-pressure high-stakes
test for schools. Every high school will be measured by how its
students perform on these tests for both the EducationYES! state
accountability system and for meeting the Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) requirement for the federal No Child Left Behind
law. Any thought that changing the type of test will result in
schools, teachers, or students being relieved of testing
pressure is naïve at best.
Much has been said about the amount of classroom time that has
to be devoted to “teaching to the MEAP” so students will score
well and reflect positively on the school, and the district as a
whole.
Instead of the original intent of the MEAP test being a
diagnostic tool for schools, the test has been twisted to being
used as a real estate tool by which school districts are judged
and compared with one another. In addition, the federal No Child
Left Behind law now requires a statewide assessment test to be
used to measure whether a school and district are making
Adequate Yearly Progress, with drastic sanctions resulting from
non-compliance.
Myth 8: The WorkKeys test will provide valuable information
to employers.
Fact: The WorkKeys test is a workplace skills assessment for
students preparing to directly enter the workforce after high
school graduation. Results from the WorkKeys test are reported
in terms of total score (3.3 to 7). Very few employers know what
a WorkKeys score means (Is the applicant employable? Is the
applicant knowledgeable?), nor have employers benchmarked their
workplace to see if they need students who achieve certain
scores on WorkKeys. The larger, more sophisticated, employers in
Michigan routinely conduct their own battery of tests with
applicants, while smaller employers rely more on students’
success in certain high school courses and work experiences.
Myth 9: ACT test results will be returned to schools faster
than MEAP results.
Fact: MEAP tests, while being administered by the Michigan
Department of Treasury, had some problems with scoring as a
result of actions last year by a third-party contracted vendor.
These issues are being resolved as the MEAP now is administered
by the Michigan Department of Education, which no longer
contracts with that vendor.
Further, ACT test scores are returned quickly because it is a
multiple-choice test. Any test with multiple-choice questions
can be scored quickly. There are no essay questions. The MEAP
has 10 essay questions that require scoring to more thoroughly
identify whether students understand the subject matter, as
opposed to taking a lucky guess on a multiple choice question.
These essay questions hold Michigan students to a higher, more
rigorous standard than multiple-choice questions.
The federal government will require this same rigorous standard
to be included in any state assessment test for the purposes of
complying with the No Child Left Behind Act. The law is clear
that a state cannot change its test as a means of creating a
false impression that the education of its children has
improved. Thus, the costs AND the time necessary to create and
score a new expanded ACT test will be greater than the current
multiple choice ACT test.
Myth 10: The ACT and the MEAP High School Tests look alike,
so they must be interchangeable.
Fact: False. Both the MEAP and the ACT are excellent tests, but
they test totally different things. The questions on the two
tests may look alike in the sense of what they appear to be
testing, but the test questions are chosen very differently.
The MEAP High School Test questions are based on Michigan’s
unique standards of what students should know and be able to do
by the end of the 11th grade. Ideally, the goal is that every
student should get 100 percent of the answers correct.
The ACT is designed very differently. To put it simply, the ACT
test is written so the average student should get about half of
the answers correct, not 100 percent. The ACT is designed to
“spread out” student scores so that colleges and universities
know who the very top students are (they’re expected to be the
ones to get the difficult questions right); who the students are
just below those top students; and on down the line. In order to
spread students out, the ACT uses questions that are at varying
levels of difficulty. The ACT would not likely use a test
question that every student would get right, or every student
get wrong.
Further, the ACT tests are timed, so that many students do not
have time to finish the test. This “speededness” of the ACT test
also helps to differentiate students. Also, the ACT is not
aligned to Michigan’s high, rigorous academic standards.
On the MEAP, because it tests things all students should know,
it is hoped and expected that all students would get the answers
right, since this would demonstrate that curriculum and teaching
has been successful. The two different purposes for the tests
make it impossible to think that one can be substituted for
another.
Myth 11: The reason to use the ACT is because colleges and
universities accept the ACT, and don’t accept the MEAP.
Fact: Both the ACT test and the MEAP High School Test are
excellent in what they are designed to do. The ACT is designed
to assist college administrators in the challenge of determining
whom to admit to a higher education institution. It is not
designed to provide information to teachers, school
administrators, parents, or teachers. The ACT measures student
abilities. The MEAP High School Test, on the other hand, is
nationally recognized as a test that measures the success of
each Michigan school in educating its students. It provides the
necessary data to give schools feedback on curriculum and other
important factors.
Further, we do not have a college “admissions” problem in
Michigan or the nation. We have a college “graduation” problem,
with nearly 40-50 percent of college students not completing
graduation requirements.
Myth 12: The ACT is less expensive.
Fact: False. The Michigan Department of Education’s figures show
that the ACT would be more expensive, not less, when all of the
same components are compared. The MEAP High School Test costs
$42.06 per student. The new expanded ACT/WorkKeys test will
range from $52.02 - $55.02 per student. The Senate Fiscal Agency
has issued a conservative estimate that the ACT will cost the
state $800,000 more per year. That does not include the
estimated $1 million in transition costs.
Myth 13: The Michigan Department of Education has not been
forthcoming about what the MEAP High School Test costs.
Fact: False. The Michigan Department of Education has provided
accurate and timely budget information to all interested
parties. In addition, all of the MEAP contracts are public
documents and available from the Department of Management and
Budget/Purchasing Office.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Watkins has
proposed to the Legislature that the state’s Senate Fiscal
Agency, House Fiscal Agency, the Department of Management and
Budget, and the Department of Education work collaboratively to
arrive at an agreed-to set of costs to the state for both the
MEAP High School Test and the ACT/WorkKeys test.
Myth 14: The ACT will help students get ready for college.
Fact: False. The ACT does not give results that students can use
to determine their areas of academic weakness, much less help
the students improve their weak areas. Besides, students receive
their ACT test results in the summer between their junior and
senior year of high school – almost too late to correct academic
deficiencies.
Myth 15: The ACT provides data that schools can use to
improve their instructional programs in math, language arts, and
science.
Fact: False. The ACT provides only overall comparative data, not
skill-level results needed by schools to review and improve
their instructional programs.
Myth 16: Switching from the MEAP to the ACT could be done
swiftly and at a lower cost.
Fact: False. Michigan’s Senate Fiscal Agency has already
determined that it would cost $800,000 more per year to make
this change. Further, additional one-time costs in excess of $1
million would be required to run parallel systems during a
transitional period of a year or two.
Myth 17: Using the ACT will encourage more children to aspire
to go to college.
Fact: False. In Myth/Fact No. 11, it was stated that we have a
college graduation problem, not a college admissions problem.
One could safely argue that most school children aspire to go to
college. But are they adequately prepared for post-secondary
success?
A much more cost and programmatically effective approach to
address career planning and post-secondary preparation would be
to implement the ACT Explore program. This test could be
implemented to all Michigan 8th graders for approximately
$800,000 per year and is an excellent gauge of a student’s
academic and vocational strengths and weaknesses. This program
will provide a road map on areas that require additional focus
so the child is ready to enter the world of work, or attend a
technical school, community college, or a college or university.
Myth 18: Switching the MEAP High School Test with the ACT/WorkKeys
test is the “right thing to do.”
FACT: False. Using the ACT as the state’s high school assessment
test will provide less information of the wrong kind for more
money.
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