Michigan Merit

By Cynthia Schmeiser

As the school year begins, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is implementing a number of updates to the High School Content Expectations (HSCE) to assist schools in preparing students for success on the Michigan Merit Exam (MME). MDE has listened to the field and in response to concerns, the Algebra II Course/Credit Requirements have been revised to reflect ACT’s College Readiness Standards, Achieve’s American Diploma Project Benchmarks, and the proposed common core college and career readiness standards Michigan plans to adopt. We are also identifying HSCE that may be tested on the MME.

Because my home is minutes away from Spartan Stadium my loyalties lean green and white. As a Spartan fan we've learned to say "we're in a building year."

We'll as educators we've been saying our ACT scores have remained flat because the students taking the MME have not been held to the higher standards. We'll this year that all changes.

The Class of 2011 next March with take the MME. A significant number of them will have completed Algebra I, Geometry, and one semester of Algebra II. Plus they will have completed 2.5 years of English and science.

Let's hope that the ACT results reported next May say, "Michigan's average ACT show significant increase and now lead the nation." Shall we pray....

Michigan high school students could meet their advanced mathematics requirements for graduation if they completed a career and technical education program that had embedded math skills under a measure that was reported by the Senate Education Committee.

The panel unanimously sent SB 698 to the full chamber.

Under the bill, if a high school student completes an approved career and technical course with embedded mathematics skills then that will meet the algebra II requirements the state now has for a student to graduate high school.

Supporters have said the change is important to ensure that students continue taking technical and skills-based classes in high school.

While students are making some progress on the Michigan Merit Exam in math, social studies and writing, with the same or worse scores in other subject areas, still fewer than half of students are proficient in writing and math and, overall, scores don't reflect college readiness, Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said on Tuesday.

Writing and math scores each improved by three points this year, with 44 percent of 11th grade students scoring proficient or advanced in 2009 compared to 41 percent in 2008 and 49 percent receiving those marks in math this year compared to 46 percent last year, according to test results released by the Department of Education.

On Monday I was with some association directors and the conversation was centered on lack of state dollars. A higher education person shared the Promise Scholarship for the Class of 2009 could be shifting to a needs based program thereby reducing the amount of available scholarship dollars and, the program would likely come to an end after this year.

So, today (Thurs., June 11th) I scheduled a meeting with the Chair of the House Higher Education appropriations committee so to get the facts on the demise of the Promise Award and share this news with our members in an article that is due.

Michigan Algebra II Expectations in Relation to ACHIEVE, Inc. American Diploma Project and The National Assessment of Educational Progress 12th Grade Mathematics Framework

Executive Summary

The State Superintendent’s memo regarding the use of power standards you received in the past few days is the result of a lot of work by MASSP. The memo vindicates what we’ve been saying to you ever since the passage of the MMC -- there is a lot more flexibility in the standards than believed.

MASSP put considerable effort into getting this memo written to your advantage, the building principal. I hope you will now put it to your use.

mymassp.com/powerstandards

One of the main reasons for including an online learning requirement in the Michigan Merit Curriculum was to give all Michigan students the experience of learning in an online environment.

According to a new study reported in eSchool News, online learning is increasing rapidly at the college level. This requirement could give Michigan students a boost, especially in these times of a sagging economy. Michigan recently won recognition for its requirement that is the first in the nation.

Detroit's Numbers Are Bad; Pontiac's Are Worse
Only 6 percent of Pontiac Public Schools juniors met state testing standards in math this past March, according to Michigan Merit Examination (MME) test results released today by the Department of Education (MDE).
In fact, 83.1 percent of test takers in this Pontiac junior class fell into the lowest-scoring category possible.