Parents and teachers: It’s time WE teach Lansing a lesson…we’re in charge of our children’s future. Please read this post and contact your legislators TODAY!
Yesterday, I encouraged state lawmakers to withdraw HB 5581 and SB 0945 until we knew what assessment Governor Snyder supports. We still don’t know. Instead, lawmakers in both the the House and Senate Education Committees voted the bills out of their respective committee. The bills move authority for assessments to Treasury (which reports to the Governor) and require the MEAP be administered next year. From Mlive,
Legislators are framing the move as an attempt to give control of testing the state’s students to a “more responsive” department, as Rep. Bob Genetski (R-Saugatuck) phrased it while testifying in support of his bill, House Bill 5581.
“The legislature has had some challenges in dealing with the department of education, most recently with the testing of our students statewide and the assessments we are obligated to do through the federal government,” Genetski said.
But according to Brian Smith at MLive that isn’t all that is moving to treasury.
The House Fiscal Agency analysis of the Genetski bill, and comments Genetski made this morning, suggest that the MDE’s testing staff would be transferred to the Treasury department to “change the culture” at MDE (Genetski’s words.)
So we’re going to move the non-responsive culture at MDE to Treasury? Brilliant. What test will Gov. Snyder try and convince the non-responsive staff to implement? Will we get the “new” MEAP suffed with SBAC content?
The legislature may believe they are standing up against the MDE and teaching them a lesson when they are likely giving away complete control over assessments. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle do not like SBAC; many would like to see ACT implemented. MLive Education reporter Smith confirms that this is a possibility in another comment
“It looks like the idea is to expedite a bidding process to contract out the actual test questions and scoring, which would make the ACT Aspire exam a likely candidate because it’s one of the options not developed through a consortium (i.e. Smarter Balanced or PARCC).”
Implementing ACT Aspire is far worse. The ACT Aspire is common core aligned and purchased as written. Michigan loses complete control. What is tested is what is taught, what is taught is what thought. Michigan parents and teachers know that if we lose control of the assessments we lose control over what is taught to our children. Lansing does not seem to care about parents, pleasing the feds is their priority.
It is not just the MDE that has been non-responsive to the legislature; the legislature has been non-responsive to parents and teachers who do NOT want Common Core or any assessment aligned to it!
It’s time Michigan parents and teachers teach Lansing a lesson they won’t forget:
1. Contact the HOUSE and SENATE and tell them to vote NO on HB 5581 and SB 0945. Tell them NO to SBAC, ACT, or any other Common Core aligned test. (Contact HOUSE and SENATE)
2. Contact Governor Snyder and ask him what assessment he supports. Tell him NO to the SBAC, the ACT Aspire, or any other Common Core aligned tests. Phone: (517) 373-3400
3. OPT OUT of SBAC, ACT Aspire, the “new” MEAP, or any Common Core aligned tests.
4. Share this post with everyone you know.
Do not let Lansing play politics with our children’s education and future.