Standardized testing steps into a new era
Sophomore Marissa Boyce works in the library on the pilot online testing in order to help herself prepare for the new testing that is coming in the spring. The pilot online testing preparation for the exam has been performed in nearly 1,900 schools in Michigan.
For 44 years, students have been taking the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). Throughout this time, teachers have been preparing their students for this test, from MEAP T-shirts to MEAP breakfasts to MEAP assemblies – and this year that all comes to an end as Michigan Legislature passes a law to begin new testing in the spring, called the Michigan
Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP).
M-STEP is an updated version of standardized testing that will include questions developed by state officials, educators and multi-state Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. For the new state standards, the test will be online, with a paper and pencil option.
“The M-STEP is supposed to be an updated version of standardized testing that is all online, the Michigan Legislature
decided to have students take the test online because of all the advancements that we now have in technology,” counselor Lindsey Dunn said.
The test will include a spring summative assessment for third through eighth graders, as well as the Michigan Merit Exam (MME) for 11th graders. The MME will include a college entrance exam, a work skills component and a summative component aligned to Michigan content standards. The state law also requires writing tests for additional grades and questions that test problem solving.
“This new online testing is now going to replace the third day of the MME testing that students have taken in previous years,” Dunn said.
The M-STEP will test students on their knowledge from the current school year, rather than taking the MEAP, which asked students about what they had learned the previous school year.
This will be the first time all statewide assessments will be administered online. To help prepare for this testing, nearly 1,900 schools in Michigan have performed pilot online testing over the past three and a half years.
“I think that this year the testing will kind of be a trial to see how the whole online aspect works,” Dunn said. “After we do it in the spring I think that we will have a better understanding of the testing and how it works for years to follow.”
After 44 years, we say goodbye to the MEAP and hello to the M-STEP as technology ushers in a new era of standardized testing.
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