State Superintendent of Schools Michael Flanagan tours Southwood Elementary
State Superintendent Mike Flanagan says a plan to bring back the MEAP for an extra year "is not an option."
(File photo)
LANSING -- Lawmakers may want students taking the Michigan Educational Assessment Program test next school year, but State Superintendent Mike Flanagan says the state's old test "is not an option."
The Michigan Department of Education has been preparing schools to transition to a replacement test based on the Common Core State Standards, and schools right now are field-testing the exam, produced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, as part of a nationwide practice test.
Lawmakers in the Michigan House inserted a provision in the state school aid budget for 2014-2015 that would only grant funds to schools if they give the MEAP exam next school year, and requires the state's education department to produce the exam.
Flanagan, however, says that his department couldn't give the test even if it wanted to.
"If we don't have Smarter Balanced, we won't have a test," Flanagan said. "The MEAP is not an option. We couldn't even re-gear that up in time."
The big problem with not giving the Smarter Balanced exam next spring, Flanagan said, is that the state's federal waiver from No Child Left Behind requirements obligates Michigan to give a test that measures student growth. MEAP doesn't fit those requirements.
"We'll lose our waiver, we'll lose title money of about a billion dollars," Flanagan said. "I know some here think these are idle threats, but this is just the reality. We're under a federal waiver that requires a test and requires it to measure student growth."
A provision in this year's budget for the Michigan Department of Education blocked funding for implementation of Common Core standards without legislative permission, and the Legislature conditioned its permission for the spending to a report analyzing all the state's testing options.
That report concluded the state was bound to its contract with Smarter Balanced for the next three years, but other groups including ACT have expressed interest in bidding on contracts for future years.
"This was bid out three years ago, it was done the right way through procurement," Flanagan said. "I'm fine with ACT if they win the next bid and it comes around. We have no special interest."
Michigan has been working to develop the Smarter Balanced exams over the last three years as part of the coalition of states formed to write exams based on the Common Core. Deputy Superintendent Joe Martineau is a co-chair of the group's executive committee, but some lawmakers have expressed concerns that the state will not have enough control over test content.
Brian Smith is the statewide education and courts reporter for MLive. Email him at bsmith11@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.