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Hearings Planned on Changing MEAP to ACT and State Drops "Margin
of Error" for AYP Calculations
Gongwer News Service, April 29, 2004
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The Senate
Education Committee is taking a week off from discussing trading
the Michigan Educational Assessment Program high school test for
the Michigan Merit Exam, but at least one more hearing is set on
the issue, said Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), the committee
chair.
As promised, Department of Education officials clarified cost
figures on the MEAP test, arguing it would be less expensive
than the ACT, as has been proposed by many school groups. But
school boards weighed in Thursday arguing the cost was not as
important as the number of students taking the test.
Ed Roeber, head of the MEAP program, said the $3.70 per test the
state spends on the current program covers not only printing
costs, but also development of new questions. All of those
costs, he said, are built into the test contracts.
Supporters of switching to a college entrance exam such as the
ACT had argued to the committee that the department was
understating the costs of the MEAP tests and that the costs of
the two programs would actually be comparable if the development
costs for the MEAP were reflected in the per-test cost.
And Mr. Roeber said the state has stopped the drastic re-writes
of the tests that drew teacher criticism in the past in favor
changing a few test items each test.
The department has also dropped a proposal, unveiled at the last
State Board of Education meeting, to figure a margin of error
into proficiency calculations for schools, Mr. Roeber said.
Officials had recommended adding two proficient students to the
totals for each school to correct for students who did not do as
well on the test as they were capable. But he said the U.S.
Department of Education had indicated it would not accept the
proposal, and he said error correction proposals other states
were trying would appear to be lessening standards.
"We don't want to appear to be softening standards but we want
to be fair to schools," he said.
But the issue that students are not doing as well on the test as
they might because they do not see any consequences of poor
performance is the larger issue to address, said Don Wotruba
with the Michigan Association of School Boards. While the group
has not taken an official position on the ACT proposal, he said
its legislative committee is supporting the switch.
"We're having students take a test and universities are not
using the test and neither is the business community," Mr.
Wotruba said. "ACT is the test kids feel they have to take,
especially if they're going on to college."
Mr. Wotruba argued the switch would also push up both the
percentage of students taking the state-required assessment and
the average scores on that assessment. "The kids that are not
taking the MEAP test are those that are college bound," he said.
Encouraging more students to take the test, which helps schools
meet the federally-required 95 percent minimum, as well as
potentially encouraging more students to aim for college would
be worth any additional costs to the test, he said.
School board members also complain about the amount of time the
MEAP test takes out of the school year, Mr. Wotruba said.
Mr. Roeber said the time use issue could be addressed by putting
time limits on the test. None of the tests currently are timed,
and he said some students are taking excessive advantage of
that, relating a story of one student spending 26 hours on the
writing essay. He said reasonable time limits could be put in
place that would ensure nearly all students would complete the
test, but schools could also then better plan administration of
the test.
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Landfill Flexibility Bill Passes
MIRS, April 29, 2004
Today, with a 93-0 vote, the House passed HB 4688, a very
watered down version of a bill that initially would have
rescinded a law that makes it easier for out-of-state trash to
be dumped in a Michigan landfill than for trash from other
Michigan sources.
In 1988 the state passed a law that trash could only be sent
from one municipality to a landfill located in another
municipality, if the governments involved had formulated
reciprocal agreements to do so.
At the time, the law was to apply to all governments, in all
states and Canada. However, a Supreme Court ruling in 1992
changed the dynamic so it only applied only to municipalities
within Michigan.
According to House Land Use and Environment Committee Chair Ruth
JOHNSON (R-Holly), the combination of the 1988 law and the 1992
court decision made it easier for out-of-state waste to be
dumped at Michigan landfills than for trash from neighboring
communities in Michigan.
What's more, the difficulty that communities have in finding
neighboring landfills that will accept their trash has resulted
in the creation of more and more landfills. The increasing
number of landfills, in turn, has helped fuel the state's
out-of-state trash problem by driving landfill capacity up, thus
making it cheaper to dump trash in Michigan landfills.
Ultimately the bill in its original form ran into stiff
opposition from several quarters. The version of HB 4688 that
passed the House today would give greater local flexibility
regarding the disposal of trash, but does not rescind the 1988
law.
The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has expressed some
opposition to the bill, so there is some question as to whether
Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM would sign it if it reaches her desk.
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