Mich. Ed. Roundup – October 11

Letter to SBE: Keep the M-STEP

Several organizations, including Business Leaders for Michigan, Detroit Regional Chamber, The Education Trust-Midwest and Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, have sent a letter to the State Board of Education regarding the new Every Student Succeeds act and full implementation of college- and career-ready standards and aligned assessments for Michigan students.

The joint letter calls for the State Board of Education to continue to use the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP). Reasons to continue to use this assessment include:

• Michigan stakeholders’ ownership and commitment to M-STEP;
• Full alignment with Michigan’s academic standards;
• Ability to provide honest and comparable information for Michigan stakeholders; and
• Provide quality data to support educators and accountability for schools.

Full text of the letter is available here.

Why Assessments Matter for Equity

Statewide, annual assessments aligned with state standards are an important way of measuring student progress consistently across classrooms, schools, and districts. They provide parents with objective information about whether their children are academically on track. They help educators benchmark the performance of their students against those across the state. And they give parents and the public an objective measure of how schools are doing at improving learning for all groups of students.

Click here for a summary of what the Every Student Succeed Act requires for state assessments and what equity-focused questions should be considered. 

Noteworthy News

• Snyder signs third grade reading bill to boost scores – Michael Gerstein, The Detroit News
• Michigan Supreme Court declines to opine on public dollars for private schools – Emily Lawler, MLive
• Feds Award Flint Schools $480K Grant for Lead Crisis Support – Corey Mitchell, Education Week
• S. Education chief knocks ‘uneven’ Michigan charter schools, urges caution in school closings– Erin Einhorn, Chalkbeat

Capital Update

State Board of Education meets today,October 11, beginning at 9:30am, in the Ladislaus B. Dombrowski Board Room on the 4^th Floor of the John A. Hannah Building in Lansing. The meeting agenda is available here and the meeting will stream live at MI Streamnet.

Legislature in recess. The Michigan Legislature is now in recess. The House will return on October 19 and the Senate will return October 18-20.

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