MME

Thanks to Ken Willison, Englishville School for sharing this document!

The Michigan Department of Education has released the much anticipated pre MME guidelines and a pared down version of Algebra II.  These documents were produced as part of a legislative provision in the 2008 State School Aid  Act that the Department define what content expectations are expected to be covered before the second semester of the 11th grade when the Merit Examination is given.  MASSP was instrumental in the passage of this provision.

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.

2009 AYP Summary attached

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....

Milan High is again hosting a summer academy open to education professionals - teachers, para pros, administrators and curriculum leaders are all invited to attend.

Sessions include:
Session A: Math For All: Algebra & Geometry For All
Milan High had all Freshmen complete Algebra & Geometry, simultaneously, through the year, with a failure rate below 8% - while mastering the new content expectations! The presentation includes the school plan to offer both classes in one year, as well as the instructional plans in these inclusive-based classrooms. (Open to all educators)

Session B: Freshmen Transitions!

For a number of years headlines in local papers pronounced the failings of public and charter schools. When we worked so hard to put the ACT in place as our test, our critics concluded that we'll never be able to show improvement. They also said our averages would go down.

Well, not so.

This year, with 100% of our students taking the ACT we have growth --significant growth.

My Saturday morning paper had this headline: "Schools do well in state Merit Exam."

Our members and their teaching staff are seeing the means to get our students to the next step. Good job!

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.

MASSP members took action last week explaining to legislators why EXPLORE is important for all students entering high school. Their work was successful!

The Senate embraced member support with the following in the Senate version of HB 4447:

"MEAP and Merit Exam Changes. The Senate added language prohibiting exam funding to be spent on an expanded social studies exam, pattern scoring, or any assessments developed by the Department for the purposes of Sections 1278a and 1278b of the Revised School Code. Intent language also was added that the Department replace its current MEAP for grades 3-8 with the Iowa Test or a similar exam, and the allocation was included for the "Explore" exam in grades 8 or 9. (Sec. 104 and 104b))"

The letter below was sent to the Michigan Legislature on June 17, 2009. In addition to the letter a fact sheet was enclosed (click here to download the fact sheet (DOC). The association notified association members of an ACTION ELERT on June 16th. Members were given sample letters and asked to send to their legislators.

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Dear Senator

We must do everything in our power to help Michigan students succeed in the real world.