Momentum is building! Parents are becoming informed and choosing to refuse the M-STEP assessment!
The Michigan PTA has added their voice support to parents and passed a resolution (MIPTA_M-Step_032815.pdf) calling for the “immediate cessation” of the the M-STEP for 2014-2015.
We agree! Stop the M-STEP!
Obviously, the MDE is not listening to the PTA, Stop Common Core in Michigan, or parents. So parents, acting in the best interest of their children, are choosing to refuse the assessment.
School administrators, under pressure from the state and feds to administer the M-STEP, are pushing back on parents.
In a recent blog post, Ann Arbor Superintendent Jeanice Kerr Swift, attempts to convince parents NOT to refuse the assessments. Her argument is weak and her only concern appears to be avoiding sanctions by the feds, putting the school at risk, and their troubling need to determine what they “really think” about next generation assessments. Here’s an excerpt from Swift’s April 2 post,
I recently had an opportunity to attend a session in Washington, D.C., with the Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education, Deborah S. Delisle, who stated, in very direct terms, that schools, districts, and states who experience ‘opt out’ that causes them to fail to achieve testing targets will be subject to sanctions. We already know that this assessment information will be used for school baseline data and other very public uses by the Michigan Department of Education as well as other agencies. She listed, specifically, loss of federal funding among the sanctions.
I am requesting that those who object to this assessment please utilize ways, outside of keeping students from testing, to express those objections. Please do not place our schools and programs at-risk through non-participation. We have a District Assessment Advisory group, established more than a year ago, that is working to formulate and inform our thinking and practice around assessment in Ann Arbor Public Schools. In addition, voicing any concerns with our elected representatives and with the Michigan Department of Education and the State Board of Education are other avenues one can leverage to send the message for change.
Certainly, it will be important for us, in moving through this spring assessment season, to observe this process carefully and share our feedback with each other and with the Michigan Department of Education. We will use what we learn from the M-Step to better understand the strengths and areas that need improvement in our curriculum, as well as in these mandated assessments.
The promise of next generation assessments is in part evolving to a more updated method of measuring student progress beyond the era of the No Child Left Behind, ‘bubble the multiple choice answer’ format, and this will be our first experience with the new online assessment tool. We need to have this experience in order to determine what we really think of this next generation of assessment.
Wow! Swift is basically telling parents to get on board with M-STEP because school administrators “need” to have this experience.” Her experience is just one big experiment on our children.
There appears to be no concern that parents believe “this experience” is NOT in the best interest of their children. Parents do NOT want their children to be used a guinea pigs on an unproven assessment. Whatever “promise” Swift sees “evolving” out of this, the classroom is not a laboratory for the MDE to experiment on our students to determine anything! Administrators and teachers have not and will not see the assessments. This is like having a new movie in town that no adult can see, but all children must see, or else the feds will be mad put schools at risk. Swift does not seem at all worried the risk to our children or their learning, the wasted classroom time, or the privacy of their data. It’s all about keeping the feds happy to keep the money flowing.
Despite Swift’s bold remarks, I do not fault her completely. Like many administrators, she may be caught in the middle between the concerns of parents and the demands of the state. Parents have tried “utilizing” other ways to express their objections. But the Governor, the MDE, and the legislature, has turned a deaf ear to parents concerns as they put their hands out to the feds for money. Refusing the M-STEP is not a decision parents make lightly but it is the solution of last resort. Parents must not succumb to veiled threats or consequences to adults by allowing our children to be used a guinea pigs. Assessments have become all pleasing the feds to avoid sanctions. It’s time to kick the feds out of the classroom and get back to teaching!
Obviously, they are very worried that you are beginning to understand that you really do have the ultimate power. By exercising it now, parents will demonstrate that educators, bureaucrats and politicians must engage as partners with you, in the education of our children.
Parents your child is MORE than a test score. It’s time to stand up and let your voice be heard.
If you would like to your children to refuse the state tests you can obtain forms and learn how here — How to Refuse M-STEP with FAQ
The MDE has confirmed you can refuse. Read more here.
The House Legislative Research Department also confirms you can refuse the M-STEP. Read more here.
Information on how you can get a yard sign is here.
Visit our Facebook page and find support and encouragement from other parents who are taking a stand.
(Special thank you to Melanie Kurdys for help preparing this post.)