MICHIGAN MERIT EXAMINATION H.B. 4810 (S-2) & 4811 (H-1):
SUMMARY OF SUBSTITUTE BILL
IN COMMITTEE
House Bill 4810 (Substitute S-2)
House Bill 4811 (Substitute H-1 as passed by the House)
Sponsor: Representative David W. Martin (H.B. 4810)
Representative Brad Paquette (H.B. 4811)
Senate Committee: Education and Career Readiness
CONTENT
House Bill 4810 (S-2) would amend the Revised School Code to do the following:
-- Delete a provision requiring the assessment instruments portion of the Michigan Merit Examination (MME) to require a writing component.
-- Require the MME to be aligned with Michigan's content standards.
-- Modify a provision requiring a school district or public school academy (PSA) include on a high school graduate's transcript the pupil's scaled score on each subject area component of the MME.
-- Modify the dates on which the MME must be administered.
-- Require the MME to be administered to certain pupils enrolled in a middle college program.
-- Require the Department of Education (MDE) to include, on each report made by the Department that included the statewide assessment results for a school building, the scores for the statewide assessment and the graduation rate for consortium pupils with the scores for the school building in the participating district in which the consortium pupil was enrolled or would otherwise attend.
House Bill 4811 (H-1) would repeal Section 104b of the State School Act, which requires a district to administer the MME in order to receive State aid under the Act and generally prescribes the requirements of the MME.
House Bill 4810 (S-2) is described in greater detail below.
Michigan Merit Examination
The Act requires the board of a school district or board of directors of a PSA to administer the MME to pupils in grade 11, and to pupils in grade 12 who did not take the complete MME in grade 11. The bill specifies that the MME consists of a college entrance test, work skills, and the summative assessment known as the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP).
The Act requires the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB) to contract with one or more providers to develop, supply, and score the MME. The MME must consist of assessment instruments that measure English language arts, mathematics, reading, and science and are used by colleges and universities in Michigan for entrance or placement purposes; one or more tests from one or more test developers that assess a pupil's ability to apply at least reading and mathematics skills in a manner that is intended to allow employers to use the results in making employment decisions; a social studies component; and any other component that is necessary to obtain the approval of the United States Department of Education to use the MME for purposes of the No Child Left Behind Act or the Every Student Succeeds Act.
The assessment instruments described above must include a writing component in which the pupil produces an extended writing sample. The MME may not require any other extended writing sample. The bill would delete these provisions. Instead, under the bill, in selecting assessment instruments to fulfill the requirements of MME, the MDE could consider the degree to which those assessment instruments were aligned to Michigan's content standards.
Under the Act, in contracting with providers to develop, supply, and score the MME, the DTMB must consider a contractor that provides electronically scored essays with the ability to score constructed response feedback in multiple languages and provide ongoing feedback. The bill would delete this provision.
The Act requires the Superintendent to ensure that the MME is designed to test pupils on grade level content expectations or course content expectations, as appropriate. Under the bill, the Superintendent also would have to ensure that the MME was designed to test pupils on the State's content standards.
Transcript
The Act requires a school district or PSA that operates a high school to include on a pupil's high school transcript the number of school days the pupil was in attendance at school each school year during high school and the total number of school days in session for each of those school years.
The school district or PSA also must include on the transcript of each high school graduate who completed the MME the pupil's scaled score on each subject area component on the MME. The bill would modify this requirement to specify that the information would be included on the transcript only if the graduate elected to include it.
MME Subject Area Scores
Under the Act, the superintendent of public instruction must work with the provider or providers of the MME to produce MME subject scores for each pupil participating in the MME.
This includes scaling and merging of test items for the different subject area components. The bill would delete this provision. Instead, under the bill, that to the extent that the MDE determined that additional test items beyond those included in the college entrance component of the MME were required to in a particular subject area, the Department would have to ensure that all test items in that subject area were scaled and merged for the purpose of producing a MME subject area score.
MME Administration
Currently, the Act requires the MME to be administered each year after March 1, and before June 1, to pupils in grade 11. Instead, under the bill, the MME would have to be administered in each school district and PSA during the last 12 weeks of the school district's or PSA's school year.
Under the Act, to the greatest extent possible, the MME must be based on grade level content expectations or course content expectations as appropriate. The bill also would require the MME to be based on Michigan's content standards.
The Act requires the Department to identify specific grade level content expectations to be taught before and after the middle of grade 11, so that teachers will know what content will be covered within the MME., The bill would delete this provision.
Under the bill, annually, after each administration of the MME, the MDE would have to provide a report of the questions per standard so that teachers would know what content would be covered within the MME.
Middle College Programs
Under the bill, for a pupil enrolled in a middle college program, other than a middle college operated as a shared educational entity or a specialized shared educational entity, if a pupil received at least 50% of his or her instruction at the high school while in grade 11, the MME would have to be required to be administered to the pupil at the high school at which the pupil received high school instruction, and the MDE would have to include the pupil's scores on the MME in the scores for that high school for all purposes for which a school's or district's results were reported. The MDE would have to allow the middle college program to use a five-year graduation rate for determining adequate yearly progress.
"Middle college" would mean a program consisting of a series of courses and other requirements and conditions, including an early college or other program created under a memorandum of understanding, that allows a pupil to graduate from high school with both a high school diploma and a certificate or degree from a community college or State public university.
Assessment Results
Under the bill, for each report made by the MDE that included the statewide assessment results for a school building, the Department would have to include the scores for the statewide assessment and the graduation rate for consortium pupils with the scores for the school building in the participating district in which the consortium pupil was enrolled or would otherwise attend. The statewide assessment for a consortium pupil could be administered either at the consortium location or at the school building in the participating district in which the consortium pupil was enrolled or would otherwise attend.
For the purposes described above, a consortium pupil would be a pupil who was enrolled or participating in a participating district in a school or program operated as a consortium or under a cooperative arrangement formed by two or more districts or intermediate districts, including a consortium or cooperative arrangement operated as a program, a shared educational entity, a specialized educational entity, or a special education center program.
MCL 380.1279g Legislative Analyst: Eleni Lionas
FISCAL IMPACT
The bills would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on the State and local units of government. It is unclear if the State would jeopardize Federal funding by not requiring the
writing component of the MME. If the State were to lose Federal funding, then the State could have reduced appropriations to the Department and to local school districts and PSAs. If the State were allowed to remove the writing component, then there would be a reduction to assessment costs to administer and grade the assessment at the State and local level, which could be significant. If the State continued to administer the writing component of the MME, then there would be no fiscal impact.
Districts and PSAs could experience reduced costs by removing the requirement to include a student's scaled score for each subject of the MME on high school transcripts. This would reduce the costs to process and print high school transcripts. Overall savings would depend on the changes to the operations for each high school.
Fiscal Analyst: Cory Savino, PhD
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.