From this article in the Grand Rapids (MI) Press:
“State educators are beefing up security for MEAP tests, saying they need to keep up with technology that allows students to distribute questions and answers to friends in other schools.But some superintendents say the youngest test-takers might be unintended casualties, believing third-graders don’t have the endurance to perform well under exam conditions aimed at high-schoolers.
While districts previously had a three-week window to administer tests, now they’re required to test on the same day, starting with math exams today issued to students in grades three through eight.
The Education Department also has contracted with a team of inspectors to make unannounced visits to make sure teachers are following protocols that include removing anything on classroom walls that can boost test performance.
The changes come in part because of a security breach last year when a Jackson newspaper reporter inadvertently reported the subject of a writing test before students in other schools had taken the exam. The state then spent about $500,000 retesting about 260,000 fifth- and sixth-graders.“
This coming Thursday, third graders throughout the state of Michigan will buckle down for a standardized test marathon: 140+ minutes of nearly non-stop language arts testing, much of which will be spent attempting to write several detailed, lengthy essay responses. Michigan’s MEAP test actually has no time limit, so the 140-minute number is actually just a recommended guideline for the average student; some students will take signifcantly longer than that amount of time to complete that day’s tests. Although short breaks are allowed between the three individual testing sections that will be given that day, a lunch break between tests is specifically disallowed. One can envision a student starting almost immediately after our school day begins (8:20) and not even being done in time to eat at our normal lunch time (11:27).
I think that’s inappropriate for 8-year-old students taking their first MEAP tests ever, and thankfully others are raising that same objection. The article continues:
“Some school chiefs said the new plan is too rigid and could backfire if students in the lower grades post lower scores because they don’t have the stamina of teenagers.
‘I understand the need to protect the integrity of the tests, but some of the things they’re doing are just not age-appropriate,’ Jenison Superintendent Tom TenBrink said. ‘You have third-graders taking tests in conditions that you see for high school students taking the ACT. You’re setting them up for failure.‘ “
Here’s hoping the State of Michigan is listening.
October 14, 2008 at 11:16 pm |
It started today with Math. The State of Michigan has one day of math (Tuesday), 2 days of ELA (16th and 22nd), and one day of science for 5th and 8th grade and one day of SS for 6th and 9th grades. All grades 3-8 take the ELA and Math. The high stakes test in Oct is long and time consuming.
October 18, 2008 at 9:34 pm |
I feel like such a hypocrite administering the MEAP. I stand in front of my students with a plastic smile on, cheering them along the way, while I subject them to the inhumane testing situation, which goes against every assessment value I have. Just between Tuesday (Math) & Thursday (Part 1- ELA) my 4th graders and myself have spent 8 3/4 hours toiling over this test. For the first time in 18 years of adminstering this test it has reduced 2 people to tears- one student and one very stressed out teacher.