State Assessment-MSTEP

If you have been following local and state politics recently you probably are aware of the many debates regarding the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  As a result of these debates, there have been many changes in the state assessment that is given tot the children of Michigan and used to rank and measure schools. For the past 44 years students in Michigan have taken the MEAP test each fall, however, this year (2015) that has all changed. This year the students are taking the M-STEP (Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress). This test is a combination of the current state standards and the new Common Core State Standards.  Furthermore, the assessment is no longer given in the fall to measure the achievement of the previous school year but rather it is now being given in the Spring to measure the current years growth.  Thus, all of our students at VCS and across the state will be completing this assessment during a 6 week window in April and May.

During this testing time students in grades 3-8 will be taking a series of test over Math, ELA, Science, and Social Studies that will total approximately 10 hours of testing.  Students in the 11th grade will be also be testing in these subject areas and when this is added to the ACT and ACT Work-keys that they took in March they will have tested for a total of 15 hours and 50 minutes.  In addition, the assessment will not be like the old MEAP test that was paper and pencil and consisted of multiple choice questions.  The new assessment is going to be online and a combination of a computer adaptive section, a classroom activity, and a performance task.  The new test will require students to have endurance and perseverance.  This assessment is going to be hard and it is going to require students to think and apply what they have learned in new ways.  This years results are not going to be used to rank schools but rather to provide us with baseline data to compare to future years.

We at Vestaburg have and continue to work hard to prepare our students for these assessments through practice tests, interventions, and our daily curriculum this is going to be a new experience for all of our students, as well as, all of the students across the state of Michigan.  Thus, we are asking our parents and community to encourage our students to work hard and to give their best effort. Encourage them to persevere and to not get frustrated and to not give up.  Lastly, we will be holding our last Parent Update Meeting in April for any parent or community member that has any questions.  Look for more details to follow in the coming weeks.  We ARE Vestaburg!