Michigan is saying goodbye to the MEAP test this coming spring. Washtenaw County school districts appear ready to roll out the new online Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, or M-STEP test.
Naomi Norman is Executive Director of Achievement Services for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District.
She says M-STEP is more than a bunch of multiple choice questions - students are going to have to answer some questions in writing.
"There are a few new types of questions that are being added on the state assessment that will provide teachers some additional insight into how students are doing in their schools relative to our Michigan standards," Norman says.
Norman says the WISD has been practicing and piloting online test systems for a couple of years now.
Students in grades three through eight, along with eleventh graders, will take the M-STEP test in the spring.
Norman says the new test gives educators a chance to frame questions in a different way, and to get richer information about what students are learning.