Monday, September 19, 2016

M-Stepping those Results Right into the Trashcan

I received my daughter's 4th grade M-Step results in the mail yesterday. 

I had not seen the results report before; two years ago, I opted her out. But last year, in a co-parenting compromise with my ex-husband, I allowed my daughter to take the test.

You will be happy to know that my daughter is 100% adequate. Or, to be specific, she is making "adequate progress." I was surprised at the naming of this progress indicator, since her scores are in the "Advanced" range in Math and English Language Arts, and at the very top edge of the "Proficient" range in Science. But, for a 4th grader approximately 1/3 of the way through her K-12 education, her progress is deemed as adequate. One must suppose then, that her teachers have also been adequate and her school is pretty adequate.

I question the use of this terminology; does "adequate" seem "proficient" or "advanced" to you? I realize that this word, according to google, means "satisfactory or acceptable."  But I challenge you to use this word in conversation and see how it is perceived. In fact, next time you are eating a dinner that your significant other prepared, I dare you to announce that it is "adequate." And next time you and your significant other are in the midst of...ahem...a romantic physical encounter, I challenge you to announce that he or she is "making adequate progress." I look forward to hearing about the ensuing conversations. Go ahead and get back to me with the results.


I'll wait right here.

While I'm waiting to hear about the progress you've made in your relationship, I'll talk a bit more about this M-Step report. The math section is divided into 4 claims which then report into 3 sections. And the Performance Level Indicators are reported in 4 color-coded bands, which then report out into 3 Claim Performance Indicators, illustrated by pointy-up and pointy-down triangles. Clearly, this report earns a yellow circle (Attention may be indicated) on the math claims of "2/4: Problem Solving, Modeling & Data Analysis" because of the fundamental confusion of the modeling and data analysis in this report.



The report itself is so...ahem...inadequate. For example, the color-coded Performance Bands at the top of each section read from left to right. The left indicator is Not Proficient, and the right side is Advanced. However, the Performance Level Descriptors at the bottom of the page begin with "Advanced" on the left and move to "Not Proficient" at the right. Who created this graphic? Why would a performance band read from left to right in the visual section of the graphic and then from right to left in the explanations? And then, for the sake of clarity, the Science section is broken into disciplines with points earned/possible points reported. No pointy-up or pointy-down triangles in science. Science gets Numbers! And science is apparently so unscientific, that the margin of error spans 3 performance levels. Luckily, my daughter may possibly be partially proficient, proficient, or advanced, but she is not to be deemed adequate in science.

I dare you to ask a 4th grader what is wrong with this report. Have them analyze the modeling and the data analysis. Have them explain to you what this report means. I look forward to hearing about those conversations.

I'll wait right here.

As an avid reader and an English teacher, I was highly relieved to learn that my daughter is also making adequate progress in English Language Arts. But, before you congratulate me on her very adequate score, I would like to question what this score is actually an indicator of. Any English teacher knows that this score is not a reflection of progress and preparation. This score is a measure of how many books are in a student's home. This score is a reflection of what the child ate for breakfast, and what the educational level is of the child's parents, and how many jobs those parents have to work to put food on the table. My daughter lives in a home that has 4 full walls of books. She has access to fresh produce daily and she gets 3 full meals a day. Between her parents and her grandparents, we together hold 10 post-secondary degrees. Her ELA score is an indication of exactly that.

I challenge you to go into the homes of the students who are pointy-down triangles (most at risk of falling behind). I challenge you to count the number of apples in their refrigerators. I challenge you to count the books in their homes, and the number of advanced degrees their parents hold. And then I challenge you to go into their communities and count the libraries. Count the grocery stores. Count the parks. Count the museums. I look forward to hearing those numbers. I would like them reported out in real numbers, not in pointy-up and pointy-down triangles, please.

I'll wait right here.

The State of Michigan, to its credit, is very concerned about the M-Step scores. Students are scoring very poorly on this test that has been redesigned two times in the two years it has been administered. And so, the State, based on M-Step scores, is threatening to take aggressive action and "rid the state of failing schools." Instead of spending time and resources making sure that schools have the resources they need, the State will close those failing schools. They might also create a new test, administered 3 times a year, to replace the current test that replaced the old test that replaced the test before that one. Because clearly, the answer to poor test scores is more testing.

I would instead challenge the State to do something truly revolutionary. I would challenge them to go into those failing schools and make sure that there are enough teachers there to teach the students. I would challenge them to make sure that the schools had enough funding to buy chairs. I would challenge them to make sure that students have access to community supports and a standard of living that allows for walls full of books and access to museums and to higher education and to apples.

I challenge the State to actually do something about it, instead of forcing students to sit on milk crates to take more meaningless tests that result in poorly designed nonsensical reports. I challenge the State to make adequate progress.

I'll wait right here.








15 comments:

  1. There are no words, Sharon! How Snyder and his minions continue to mandate policies that promote and maintain a separate but unequal educational system is in large part our fault. Our fault because we, not all of us, but an alarming number of us, through our lack of involvement or ignorance of what's going on politically in our state, have allowed legislators with little or no educational background or expertise to dictate and mandate an educational policy that is not in anyone's best interest.

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    1. Let's be honest here and blame more than Snyder; the school situation wasn't in great shape when he took over. My oldest daughter is 36 and was in special education since infancy and there were inequities in funding when she started school.

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    1. Fairtest.org has the federal and state laws as well as form letters. I wrote a letter to my daughter's principal and teachers; they originally responded that I would have to keep her home from school those days, but I replied that, by law, she has a legal right to an education and they cannot demand that she not be educated on those days. I wrote a lesson plan for my daughter to do on the testing days and request that she be allowed to work in the library or office and they complied. By law, you can opt out of the tests, just like you can opt out of sex ed or an R rated movie. And by law, they cannot demand that you keep your child home; that is denying your child an education.

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    2. Sarah, I opt my kids out of this test. All I do is right a letter to be put in their school file.

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  4. The bottom needs to fall out of the education system nation wide, and it's coming. Ten years ago 11% of college freshman were education majors...last year it was 4% with no rebound in sight. This country's inability to prioritize education at a national or state level will be its downfall.

    I, too, am an English teacher in Michigan, and I truly can't keep up with the constant testing, mandates, and demands on teachers with close to no support at any level.

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  5. I agree! According to the MSTEP my 5th grader is "partially proficient" in English Language Arts. I find this amusing since the other state mandated tests show her reading comprehension on an 11th grade level. Hmmmm, must have been those pesky Fruity Pebbles.

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    1. Thanks Becky for your thoughts. The M-STEP state assessment is given only once per year in the Spring. It is the only assessment given to all students throughout the state in grades 3-8 and 11 and is designed to provide a snapshot of what students know and are able to do in relation to state standards. The state assessment provides a snapshot which when combined with district and classroom assessments give teachers and parents a better understanding of student performance.

      The other tests you describe were selected by the district. Each type of test is designed to measure different information and has its own cut score on what is considered proficient. I know it is confusing. Hope this helps.

      For more information on the state assessment, please visit: www.mi.gov/mstep


      Jan Ellis
      Spokesperson
      Michigan Department of Education
      ellisj@michigan.gov

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    2. Informational video on How to Read a M-STEP Parent Report is available ar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYBG_VnkshE

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  6. they used the 'triangles' for math and ela because the cut scores made no sense when expressed as a fraction...meaning a 'proficient' or 'advanced' student was still getting around half of the poorly worded questions wrong.

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  7. I agree with you...except the "new" three times a year test isn't new. It's NWEA which had been used by many districts around the country for years. It's a better indicator of performance and the three times a year administration (with instant results on the screen when the child finishes) gives teachers data to alter instruction immediately. The parent reports are friendlier too.

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    1. Perhaps my word "create" isn't quite correct. You are right, the NWEA has existed for years, but not as a State mandate. And there would have to be State intervention on accessibility, both on a hardware level and on an accommodation level. Also, I don't personally believe that the data would be any more reliable, as I have watched my own students "beat the test" and get as many wrong as possible so that they can quickly end the test and go back to something they are interested in. Also, I can't imagine that districts who have to use milk crates instead of chairs would have the tech capabilities to have all students take the NWEA 3 times a year. In our own district, if the elementary school is taking the NWEA, the bandwidth for the entire district is flooded and the other buildings can't even get online reliably. And lastly, it is so incredibly disruptive (and students end at such different times that you can't really teach anything meaningful on those days) that it creates many more problems than it solves.

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  8. There is nothing that the m step or nwea tests tell us that we can't learn by looking at student grades.

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    1. Actually, we can learn a lot more by looking at student grades than by looking at the MStep or NWEA. In my classroom, I can identify strategies to help every student and make sure they are at mastery. The students in my room understand what my expectations are and what they need to do to show that they understand. In my room, most (not all, of course) students want to succeed. On a state-mandated test where the students feel like it is irrelevant and a waste of time? Not so much. I can't exactly convince students to perform to their best ability on something they feel is useless and boring. Standardized testing goes against every single motivational and engagement factor in educational research.

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