Schools

National Move to Common Core Looks to Replace MEAP Test

Michigan's move toward a national curriculum will also bring a new set of tests to replace the MEAP and MME.

are only the beginning of what promises to be a complete overhaul of the standardized tests students know as the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) and Michigan Merit Exam (MME).  

With districts throughout the state on in the next two years, Chippewa Valley Schools Executive Director of Elementary Education Sue Grenier said schools can expect entirely new tests by 2014-15. 

These common core exams are set to replace the present-day MEAP and MME with tests better aligned to the college- and career-readiness standards taught through the common core curriculum.

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While the 2014-15 exams will cover English-language arts and mathematics, Grenier said some form of the MEAP may remain to test science and social studies.

At present, Michigan is part of the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, a multi-state group that is federally funded and charged with developing a student assessment system that can be used across the U.S. to measure student achievement under the new common core standards.

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Grenier said that it is likely these new tests will also be given online.

"There will also be alonger window to take the test, because of this need to share technology," Grenier said. "No longer would every school in Michigan be required to take the same (portion of the) test on the same day."

Another significant change could come in the timing of the test. Whereas students in grades three through nine are currently tested with the MEAP in the fall of each year, the new timeline could see students tested in the spring.

Grenier said this may mean students will go without a normal test during the period of fall 2013 to spring 2015.

The fall 2011 MEAP results for all Michigan districts and individual schools were released on Feb. 15. To see how your child's district fared, visit the corresponding link below.

To see scores and trends across districts and within individual school buildings, check out the MI School Data website at http://www.mischooldata.org/.


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