Specifics About the M-STEP Program
Spring 2015 M-STEP summative tests for grades 3–8 and 11 will include:
** Note on the the MME: Starting in the 2016 school year, the SAT will be the state-administered college assessment exam replacing the ACT Plus Writing. The WorkKeys will remain the same.
- Content learned during the 2014-15 school year.
- English Language Arts (Grades 3–8): Smarter Balanced content plus Michigan developed field-test items. This will include a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)(Note: For Spring of 2015, CAT will not be administered.), a Classroom Activity, and a Performance Task.
- Mathematics (Grades 3–8): Smarter Balanced content plus Michigan-developed field-test items. This will include a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)(Note: For Spring of 2015, CAT will not be administered.), a Classroom Activity, and a Performance Task.
- Science (Grades 4 and 7): Michigan-developed assessment of online, fixed-form, multiple-choice based items.
- Social Studies (Grades 5 and 8): Michigan-developed assessment of online, fixed-form, multiple-choice based items.
- Michigan Merit Examination (Grade 11): ACT Plus Writing, WorkKeys, and M-STEP summative assessments in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, and social studies. The ELA and mathematics tests are comprised of Smarter Balanced content plus Michigan-developed field-test items that will include a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) (Note: For Spring of 2015, CAT will not be administered.), a Classroom Activity, and a Performance Task. The science and social studies tests are comprised of Michigan developed online, fixed-form, multiple-choice based items.
** Note on the the MME: Starting in the 2016 school year, the SAT will be the state-administered college assessment exam replacing the ACT Plus Writing. The WorkKeys will remain the same.
- Computer Adaptive Testing (will be in place for 2016 testing) represents a significant improvement over traditional paper/pencil assessments used. It adjusts to a student's performance by basing the difficulty of future questions on previous answers, providing more accurate measurement of student achievement, particularly for high- and low-performing students.The number of items will vary on the online CAT portion of each student’s test.
- The Performance Tasks contain collections of questions and activities that are coherently connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities are designed to measure capacities such as depth of understanding, writing and research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with traditional test questions. The Performance Tasks will be taken on a computer (but will not be computer-adaptive) and will take one to two class periods to complete.
- The Classroom Activity is meant to introduce students to the context of a Performance Task so they are not disadvantaged in demonstrating the skills the task intends to assess. Classroom Activities do not address content information; instead, they focus on vocabulary and key contextual topics. The Classroom Activity is designed to be an introduction and not an assessment. For complete details about the Classroom Activity go to page 6 of the Transition document.
- For the 2015 testing window the Performance Tasks and Classroom Activity will be recommended but not required for 11th grade. Taking these will give students the opportunity to interact with items that measure application of skills that are needed to be college and career ready.