Contents of this issue:
- New MEAP director promises changes in two years
- State GOP leader pushes for resignation of state superintendent
- U.S. Senate approves D.C. voucher program
- Reward system for passing MEAP challenged
- Education groups to lobby against cuts
- Parents choose right schools under school choice
NEW MEAP DIRECTOR PROMISES CHANGES IN TWO YEARS
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On a visit to Grand Rapids, the newly
appointed director of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program
(MEAP) tests announced plans to fix current problems with the
test program within two years.
Ed Roeber, Michigan's new MEAP director, discussed his plans with
parents, lawmakers and Grand Rapids district officials. Roeber
said part of his plan to improve the MEAP includes visiting with
districts to teach administrators how to use MEAP data. "I've
come in kind of as a problem solver," Roeber said. "I've had a
very good conversation with folks [in Grand Rapids] and got some
useful ideas I can take home with me."
In addition, Roeber said he wants to process data fast enough to
return MEAP scores for elementary- and middle-school students by
May 7 of each year. Problems now plaguing the scoring process
include delays in the release of scores and the loss of thousands
of students' test results.
SOURCES:
Grand Rapids Press, "New director promises to fix MEAP test in
two years," Jan. 24, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-12/
107494300465580.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "How Does the MEAP Measure
Up?" December 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3919
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "POLICY BRIEF: Which
Educational Achievement Test is Best for Michigan?" May 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4382
STATE GOP LEADER PUSHES FOR RESIGNATION OF STATE SUPERINTENDENT
LANSING, Mich. — The leader of Michigan's Republican Party last
week called for the resignation of state Superintendent Tom
Watkins.
Citing lack of accountability and a lack of positive results, GOP
Chairwoman Betsy DeVos, Grand Rapids, requested that Watkins step
down from his post. "Rather than accountability, what we get from
Watkins are platitudes of wonderful things that are to come,"
DeVos said. "It's time for Tom Watkins to resign." Watkins
scrapped a 2001 statewide accreditation plan that left
unaccredited over 1,000 schools, angering legislators in favor of
higher standards for Michigan schools.
Supporters of Watkins claim he has maintained accountability for
schools even without the original accreditation plan. "We hired
Tom to really promote and strengthen public education and he's
really doing that," state Board of Education President Kathleen
Straus told the Detroit News. "It's not going to happen
overnight."
Watkins was appointed in 2001 by the state Board of Education.
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "GOP chairwoman wants state education boss to
resign," Jan. 22, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0401/22/d12e-42504.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Making the Grade,"
January 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6113
Michigan Education Report, "State Board of Education adopts
school grading plan," Spring 2002
https://www.educationreport.org/4270
U.S. SENATE APPROVES D.C. VOUCHER PROGRAM
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate last Thursday approved an
experimental voucher program for District of Columbia students,
totaling $40 million over the next five years.
The voucher plan, part of a large omnibus spending bill, passed
with a 65-28 vote. If unchallenged, the program will provide
1,700 District students with a voucher of up to $7,500 to attend
the private school of their choice. "School choice is one policy
that will help create an educational system that makes no
distinction between the poor and the privileged in terms of the
quality of education received," Education Secretary Rod Paige
told the Washington Times.
Critics of the bill, which was approved by the House of
Representatives last week by just one vote, say the money should
instead be used to improve public schools in the District.
Leading the criticism was Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who
will work to repeal the voucher program before September, when it
goes into effect.
SOURCES:
Washington Times, "Voucher program approved for D.C.,"
Jan. 23, 2004
https://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20040122-102022-9837r.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Friedman Says Vouchers and
Tax Credits Useful Route to Greater School Choice,"
March 19, 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4117
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Case for Choice in
Schooling: Restoring Parental Control of Education,"
Jan. 29, 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3236
REWARD SYSTEM FOR PASSING MEAP CHALLENGED
SAGINAW, Mich. — A principal's plan to reward her students for
improved Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) scores
may draw a court summons, as it may violate the privacy rights of
students by indirectly revealing whether they failed or not.
Carollton Middle School Principal Traci Smith instated the plan
to give students incentive to do well on the MEAP tests. Passing
students receive a free game of bowling and a movie. "It's almost
like you're releasing the scores of individual kids," Carrollton
Board of Education Trustee Mark Miller said at a board meeting.
"I just want to be concerned that we're not put in a legal
position."
All the school's students are invited to participate in the
bowling and the movie, but the school would subsidize only those
passing the MEAP tests. Carollton Superintendent Craig C. Douglas
is a supporter of Smith's reward for students. "We're trying to
make an uninteresting test interesting, and make a test that is
not inherently meaningful, meaningful," Douglas told the Saginaw
News. "So I applaud her for thinking outside the box."
SOURCES:
Saginaw News, "Proposed MEAP reward faces test," Jan. 20, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-9/
1074613928147751.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "How Does the MEAP Measure
Up?" December 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3919
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "POLICY BRIEF: Which
Educational Achievement Test is Best for Michigan?" May 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4382
EDUCATION GROUPS TO LOBBY AGAINST CUTS
LANSING, Mich. — Education groups around the state, including
Michigan's largest teacher unions, recently formed a new lobbying
group to prevent cuts in education funding amid a $900 million
budget shortfall.
The coalition, which does not yet have a name, wants to convince
Gov. Jennifer Granholm and key state legislators to reduce cuts
in education budgets. "Unified groups tend to speak with a louder
voice," Tom White, chairman of the coalition, told the Detroit
Free Press. "This will help express the pain that we hear because
of cuts in the current year, and the impact of cuts in the
future."
The new group is a reincarnation of the Red Cedar Coalition; a
lobbying group built in 2003 to convince Gov. Granholm to add and
increase specific taxes to increase funds for education.
SOURCE:
Detroit Free Press, "Education lobby to launch anti-cut drive,"
Jan. 20, 2004
https://www.freep.com/news/education/ntax20_20040120.htm
PARENTS CHOOSE RIGHT SCHOOLS UNDER SCHOOL CHOICE
DEARBORN, Mich. — The number of students enrolled in the Schools
of Choice program has increased substantially in the last several
years, showing increased popularity of the program, which allows
children to attend other participating schools in their district
or in contiguous districts.
According to state figures, 17,439 students were enrolled in
Schools of Choice in the 1999-2000 school year. This year, 39,851
are participating in the program. State officials say the
increase shows that more parents are paying careful attention to
their child's education.
The Michigan Education Association (MEA), the state's largest
teachers' union, gives parents advice on how to choose the best
school for their child. "We urge parents to get into the schools.
Talk to principals. Talk to teachers. Get a good feel for the
school and the programs. Then, consider your child's strengths
and weaknesses, and consider what about a particular school might
satisfy those concerns," said Margaret Trimer-Hartley, director
of communications for the MEA.
SOURCES:
Detroit News, "Parents do homework before picking schools,"
Jan. 26, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0401/26/a01-45569.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Impact of Limited School
Choice on Public School Districts," July 2000
https://www.mackinac.org/2962
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Case for Choice in
Schooling," January 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3236
MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education
Report (
https://www.educationreport.org), a quarterly newspaper
with a circulation of 130,000 published by the Mackinac Center
for Public Policy (
https://www.mackinac.org), a private,
nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.
Font size:
