Thoughts on M-STEP and Beyond

On November 13, 2014 the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) released long awaited details on the spring 2015 student assessment.  The MDE heralded the release as “great news for our local districts” because “they have been very anxious to hear what the new assessment will be”. What we heard is that the that the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) is a combination of Smarter Balanced Assessment test items and some state developed items and for 11th graders, the test will also include ACT+Writing and WorkKeys. What we heard is that for the first time most districts will be required to administer the assessment on line.  What we heard did little to ease my anxiety as a high school principal. 
 

In fairness to the MDE the M-STEP is a reaction to changes in Michigan law. You may recall that the need for a new assessment arose when legislators halted the MDE's original plan of adopting the Smarter Balanced Assessment this year thus diverting what the department and some local districts had been working on for three years.  In short, the M-STEP is stopgap assessment created in response to a legislative directive that forced MDE to come up with a retooled state-developed assessment for the spring of 2015. That same legislative directive also mandates MDE put out a new request-for-proposals for a more long-term solution beginning in the 2015-16 school year. The results of that request and the “long-term” solution remain to be seen.

While, according to the MDE’s press release,  “the new assessment meets all of the requirements put into law by the legislature” I have to wonder at what cost.  As mentioned, this will be the first time that all statewide assessments will be administered online.  The MDE says not to worry, that 80 percent of schools in the state meet the minimum technology requirements and for those who don’t there will be a paper-and-pencil version of the test.  But I do worry. In theory, my district does meet the minimum technology requirements for the assessment.  On paper, we have the hardware and bandwidth capacities to administer the test.  In reality that hardware and bandwidth is used daily for instruction.  There is not a computer lab that goes unused. To devote these resources to testing for 11^th graders results in a disruption to instruction for all grade levels during the testing window.   

This disruption is made greater by the length of test.  The entire M-STEP will take longer for districts to administer than the old Michigan Merit Exam (MME); all tolled, the 11th grade assessment comprises 8 partial days of testing or approximately 16 hours.  Initially, it was said that some some portions of the ELA and math exams were optional, that schools could cut out roughly 5 hours of testing by only completing the mandatory portions. Since, the MDE has "reconsidered" and has made it clear that the entire test is mandatory, that there will be "consequences"to those schools that choose not to administer all portions of the M-STEP.  Regardless, no matter how you slice it, the M-STEP signifies a substantial increase in testing time for students; an increase of 5 partial days and up to 8 hours.  Again, The result is a significant disruption to the educational process for ALL students in a school.

There are other concerns too; the effect of increased time spent on “high stakes” testing for 11^th graders, an issue magnified in many school throughout the state by the number of students who will be taking AP tests in May; The impact of the new online testing format on student performance; the impact on school and district scores and rankings; the apparent devaluing of the ACT.  The list goes on. All of this begs the question “is this good for kids”? My answer is NO, for all of these reasons.  Yet this spring, we, like every other high school in the state will administer the M-STEP.  Between now and then we will continue to prepare our students the best we can.  That is all we can do…for 2014-2015. 

So let’s turn our attention to 2015-2016 and beyond. As school leaders we have the right and the responsibility to speak up.  It is vital for us to have a voice on issues such as standardized testing, accountability and the like.  As the legislature considers a direction and a “long term solution” for student assessment in Michigan it is imperative that we as school leaders play a role. We know what is best for kids.  We need to be part of the process!  We need to be heard!  If not, not we have only ourselves to blame!