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Testing madness has to end in state


I n August results were released on how local students fared in the latest standardized test results. M-STEP — Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress — is the state’s annual assessment of students, which is required under federal education law.

Administered each spring, M-STEP measures English language arts, math, social studies and science knowledge in grades 3-8 and 11. The state adopted new science tests this year though results were not released because the Michigan Dept. of Education said the tests themselves were being tested.

By most accounts the M-STEP results weren’t great, though there were local exceptions and standouts. Schools officials have said “we’re going in the right direction” in lieu of generally disappointing news.

According to Brenda Ortega, an editor for the Michigan Education Association, the testing time for students “drags on torturously for hours at a time over too many days,” the weeks-long testing ties up technology that could be used for education purposes, and the “test holds no meaning or value for students, who have no accountability for their performance and will never check answers or see results beyond a number score.”

The MEA represents about 140,000 teachers and higher-education employees throughout the state. The MEA is the largest single public employee union in the state and the third largest education association in the United States.

Continued Ortega, “A standardized test does not accurately measure creativity, problem solving, analytical skills, or much of anything that parents, educators, and societies value in human beings… Short-sighted administrators force teachers and children to undertake mind-numbing test prep in a futile attempt to raise test scores that results in students hating school.”

Some education advocates are taking a cautious attitude toward the 2018 results because of substantial changes adopted by the state. The tests were made shorter and included fewer sections than in prior years.

State education officials said they cut the length of the annual test in order to free up time for more targeted and frequent “benchmark” tests at the school level that teachers could use to address student weaknesses.

Among the MEA’s legislative objective is to prevent Michigan teachers from being thrown under the bus by lawmakers, the public and the media whenever test results are less than stellar.

A bill with bipartisan support that would keep standardized test scores from taking on even greater importance in the lives of teachers and students in Michigan recently got a hearing in a state House committee — but no vote.

According to the MEA’s website, hundreds of educators and parents contacted legislators in support of House Bill 5707, a measure that would keep the percentage of an educator’s evaluation that is tied to student growth measures at 25 percent instead of jumping to 40 percent this school year.

According to the Michigan Dept. of Education, most students spend no more than 4-8 hours — less than 1 percent of instructional time — on state assessments. All other assessments are determined at the school district and building level.

Annual assessments that are the same for all Michigan students give the Dept. of Education information on how students are performing, and how well schools and districts are teaching students compared to those in other communities, states, and nations. State school officials say this helps target support and resources to students and schools that need them most.

An argument can be made whether the state has adopted the best standards and whether it has adopted “best practices” utilized in other states and even countries.

Until that occurs, to use a football analogy it’s not fair to teachers and school administrators for the state to keep moving the goal posts every few years. That’s like telling coaches and players at halftime that the goal line has been extended another 20 yards from when the game began.

Something has to change. The current testing madness has to end. Find one and stick with it, and unleash the teachers to teach to students and not teach to a test.

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