Watch CBS News

So Long, MEAP! New Standardized Statewide Student Test Announced

LANSING (WWJ/AP) - State education officials have updated standardized testing for public school students across Michigan.

Details of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, known as M-STEP, were announced Thursday.

This will be the first time all statewide assessments will be administered online; but there will be a paper-and-pencil option as well.

"This is great news for our local school districts," said State Superintendent Mike Flanagan, in a statement. "They've been very anxious to hear what the new assessment will be, as we developed a new test to comply with legislatively-mandated changes."

M-STEP replace the 44-year-old Michigan Educational Assessment Program ("the MEAP test"). They'll be used until a long-term testing system is found for spring 2016.

The Michigan Legislature ordered the new test beginning next spring.  State law also requires writing tests for additional grades and more questions that test problem solving.

"The changes in law diverted what the department and local school districts had been developing and preparing for over the past three years," Flanagan said. "It put schools in some unwelcomed limbo while our experts scrambled to find testing content that met the legislative requirements."

Michigan public school educators helped develop and write M-STEP content. It includes spring testing for grades 3 to 8 and a Michigan Merit Exam for 11th graders.

About 1,900 Michigan schools have performed pilot online testing to prepare for the new test.

[Details HERE].

TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.