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In This Issue / Oct. 23, 2015 MEA praises Senate for passage of revamped evaluation bill Contact your Congressman; time is running out for ESEA MEA praises Senate for passage of revamped evaluation bill It's been a long time coming, but a teacher evaluation bill is on its way to Gov. Snyder for his signature after the Senate passed an amended version of SB 103 this week. The bill is a great improvement over the original 2011 list of teacher tenure reforms and makes the evaluation a more fair and productive process for members. In a news release, MEA President Steven Cook said, "This legislation took a considerable amount of time to work its way through the Legislature. It was worth the wait, as it represents a big step forward and a major improvement over the present haphazard process in evaluating teachers and administrators." Last week, the House made important changes to the bill. Beginning this year, and for the next three years, the bill requires 25 percent of a teacher's evaluation be based on student growth-a significant improvement since the current requirement is 50 percent based on a state standardized test. From now on, two or more growth measures, which can include state and local growth assessments, will be used as the basis for student growth. In the 2018-19 school year, the required percentage of student growth rises to 40 percent. MEA lobbyists have created a side-by-side comparison detailing improvements to the bill they helped craft. While this system is not as good as being able to locally bargain over evaluation systems, thanks to the efforts of our lobbyists, it is a significant improvement over existing law. Some of the changes to the legislation reflect the Michigan Council on Educator Effectiveness (MCEE) recommendations. You want the report on the final recommendations.) issued in 2013. University of Michigan's Dr. Deborah Lowenstein Ball chaired the Council which became known as the "Ball Commission."  "Although the legislation passed by the House and Senate does not contain all of the Council's recommendations, it does change the focus of evaluations. Instead of punishment, the goal of evaluations is now aimed at improving classroom instruction." Cook said.  School districts have the option to develop their own evaluation tool, use one of the evaluation models recommended by MCEE, or modify one of MCEE's models for their use. In another change, money for training of teachers and administrators in the implementation of an evaluation system will come from the Educator Evaluation Reserve Fund.  The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) will have a key role in implementing the new evaluation process, but as Cook said, "MEA members on the front lines in classrooms across the state look forward to sharing their expertise to guarantee the success of this much needed reform." Contact your Congressman; time is running out for ESEA It's now more important than ever to let your members in Congress know that students are depending on them to finish the rewrite of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). While Congress is closer than ever to a reauthorization, their crowded calendar could lessen the chances of getting it done this year. That's why your help is needed to push Congress to deliver a bipartisan bill to President Obama for his signature. In July, the House passed its version, the Student Success Act (SSA), and the Senate did the same with its Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA). It will take a conference committee to work out the differences between the two bills, specifically accountability in providing every student the chance for a quality education and more control for states, school districts and parents in issues like standardized testing. NEA continues to advocate an ESEA reauthorization that includes reducing the amount of standardized testing, support for students and schools in state accountability plans, and ensuring that educators are a part of decision making at the federal, state and local levels.   Urge your Congressman to get ESEA right this time and end the failed policies that have negatively impacted students, educators, and schools. Your voluntary contributions to MEA PAC and the NEA Fund help elect friends of public education! Contribute today! Due to a variety of rules, MEA only sends political e-mails to home e-mail addresses. This e-mail has been sent to an address deemed by the MEA to be a home e-mail address. If you have received this message at a school district or work site e-mail address, or if you want to change the e-mail address where you receive Capitol Comments, reply to this message and tell us your name, your old e-mail address and your new e-mail address. Please do not forward this message to any school district or work site e-mail accounts.

News Release Contact:    Martin Ackley, Director of Public and Governmental Affairs, (517) 241-4395                   Bill DiSessa, Spokesperson, (517) 335-6649 Michigan students set baseline for new state assessment  2014-2015 M-STEP results available soon October 22, 2015 LANSING – Michigan students have set the course for success when they took the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) this past spring, establishing a new baseline for performance, with statewide results available in the days ahead, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) announced today. “I’m thrilled that Michigan was a leading state in successfully implementing a new assessment system,” State Superintendent Brian Whiston said. “In 2010, we raised the bar on our state standards and our test now reflects that rigor.” “This was an all-new and more rigorous test and the statewide results will be lower than we’ve seen in the past, and that’s ok,” Whiston said. “M-STEP sets up a new baseline from which to improve and set us on our way to be a Top Ten education state in 10 years.” Sandy K. Baruah, President and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, expressed the importance of raising the academic bar for Michigan students. "As a state, we will not be able to compete in the flat, global 21st Century dynamic marketplace if we don't have, and achieve, the highest academic standards,” Baruah said. “The discussion should not be maintaining high standards, but rather how can we raise our standards." After 44 years of the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) test, 82 percent of Michigan students across the state sat down in front of computers to take the first-ever M-STEP. A paper and pencil option also was available for buildings not yet prepared to test online. Whiston said the M-STEP measures the state’s standards that give students a deeper understanding to what they are learning. The standards now take students from just knowing the facts, to learning how to use those facts to understand context, apply them to problem solve, and make those facts relevant in their lives. In Spring 2016, Michigan students will take the M-STEP in grades 3-8. Students in grade 11 will take the Michigan Merit Exam, which includes the SAT, WorkKeys, and M-STEP science and social studies tests. New for Spring 2016, students in grades 9 and 10 will take the PSAT. MDE’s Deputy Superintendent of Accountability Services, Venessa Keesler, said that the 2016 M-STEP also will include improvements, based upon the first implementation feedback of school districts and a survey of more than 26,000 students and 5,000 parents to get their initial reaction. “MDE heard that the testing time was an issue for schools in this first implementation,” Keesler said. “For Spring 2016, MDE is able to reduce testing time for juniors taking the Michigan Merit Exam by eight hours and by two and a half hours for grades three, four, six, and seven.” The test also can be administered in smaller portions over multiple days so that students will not be required to complete the test all in one sitting, according to Keesler. Michigan’s federal ESEA Flexibility waiver, approved by the U.S. Department of Education on August 13, 2015, provides that Michigan will not complete or issue public, high-stakes accountability in the form of top-to-bottom rankings and school report cards until Fall 2017. However, MDE will calculate and publish accountability in the form of informational school rankings and diagnostic scorecards in Fall 2016, according to Keesler. Additionally, MDE will provide schools with useful reports and data that can be used to guide and improve student instruction based upon the first year of implementation of the M-STEP. MDE provided preliminary reports to schools within about two weeks of the close of each testing window. Whiston said that the department currently is conducting an assessment vision workgroup with education stakeholders to see how student assessments can be streamlined for spring 2017 and beyond. The M-STEP results will be released in a staggered sequence with the public release of statewide aggregates first in the days ahead. Schools and districts then will receive testing data through the department’s secure website. Later this year, school and district aggregates will be available on mischooldata.org. For more information, please visit www.michigan.gov/mstep.   # # # M-STEP results upcoming.pdf