ASSESSMENT PROGRAM GRADE LEVEL STANDARDS
House Bill 6333 as passed by the House
Sponsor: Rep. Brian Palmer
Committee: Education (Discharged)
Complete to 12-7-04
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 6333 (H-2) AS PASSED BY THE HOUSE
House Bill 6333 (H-2) would amend Public Act 38 of 1970 (MCL 388.1082), the original Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) authorizing statute, to revise the manner in which the state assessment program is administered.
Beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, the superintendent of public instruction would be required to ensure that all of the following applied to the assessment program.
-Scorers of assessments would be required to supply individual reports for each student that would identify for parents and teachers whether the student met expectations or failed to meet them for each standard, to allow the student's parents and teachers to assess and remedy problems before the student moved to the next grade.
-Those who develop or score assessments would be required to meet quality management standards commonly used in the assessment industry, including at least meeting level two of the capability maturity model developed by the software engineering institute of Carnegie Mellon University for the 2005-2006 school year assessments, and improving to at least level three of that model for subsequent assessments.
-Contracts with scorers or developers of assessment instruments would have to include specific deadlines for all steps of the assessment process (including deadlines for the correct testing materials to be supplied to schools, and for the correct results to be returned to schools), including penalties for noncompliance with the deadlines.
-All assessment instruments would be required to 1) be designed to test students on grade level content expectations in all subjects tested, for each grade level tested; 2) include no more than two written response portions for English language arts, and not include any written response portions for mathematics or science; 3) comply with requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; and 4) be consistent with the code of fair testing practices in education prepared by the joint committee on testing practices of the American Psychological Association.
The bill requires that the superintendent of public instruction work with the assessment advisory board.
Under the bill, officials working in public schools would be required to identify both students needing assistance to improve their competence in the basic skills and students who have demonstrated extraordinary competence in multiple subject areas, and who should be advanced.
Currently under the law, the statewide assessment program must cover all students annually in at least two grade levels in public schools. Under House Bill 6333 (H-2), the program would have to cover all student annually in at least two elementary and middle school grade levels in public schools. Further, the bill specifies that if the federal government requires assessments at additional grade levels under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, then the superintendent of public instruction must ensure Michigan complies with those requirements.
Legislative Analyst: J. Hunault
■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.