MASSP News Center

By Diane McMillan
Associate Director

The Next Generation in Assessment and Accountability was the topic of a March forum in Chicago. I attended with a team from around the state to discuss what assessment will look like in the next ten years in Michigan and implementation of the Secondary Credit Assessment system.

Joseph Martineau, the new director of MDE’s Office of Educational Assessment and Accountability led our state team along with facilitators from Great Lakes East, Great Lakes West-Learning Point Associates, Westwind Education Policy, the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center/CRESST, the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center/WestEd and the Regional Education Laboratory Midwest.

The prediction for the next generation of assessment centered on formative instruction and assessment. With the assessments like MME providing the summative data for states, the focus is forecast to be on formative assessments that provide feedback and information about student learning.

According to Margaret Heritage of the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center/CRESST, formative assessment is “an ongoing process to close the gap between the learner’s current state and desired goals.” Formative assessment can uncover address details about student learning that the larger, summative tests cannot.

The vision of the department is to integrate formative instruction and assessment training into existing professional development and not create another separate initiative that will be “one more thing” on educators’ plates. Already, a philosophical shift seems underway in the department. (Martineau’s Memo) Expect to hear more on formative assessment and MDE’s plans in the coming months.