(MPRN-Lansing) Michigan students will take a trimmed down version of the state’s new standardized test next spring.
State education officials rolled out the new M-STEP assessment in the spring, replacing the MEAP. One of the biggest complaints they heard was that it took too much time for many students to complete.
“As with any new product, we knew that there was room to improve the assessment system. And after the administration of last year’s assessment, we solicited the feedback through surveys and focus groups and from key stakeholders on ways we could improve the assessment system for next spring,”
said Michigan Department of Education spokesperson Martin Ackley.
“So what we did was we made some changes to the assessment, to the process, to the administration of the test to reduce that time – in some situations, dramatically – to help make this still a good test, but a much shorter test.”
Ackley says the department is cutting portions of its English language arts exam for third, fourth, sixth and seventh graders. And he says a switch from the ACT to the SAT exam could cut eleventh grade testing time by up to eight hours. New state Superintendent Brian Whiston has vowed to reduce overall testing time for Michigan students.
