Contents of this issue:
Legislature votes to replace MEAP with college entrance test
Lawmakers' budget shift maintains state school fund
School groups compete for authorization as charter schools
State commission recommends guaranteed "universal higher education"
Bill to end $20 million ISD special ed practice awaits approval
Opinion: Stopping social promotion improves academic performance
Some U.S. educators try Asian teaching methods for mathematics
LEGISLATURE VOTES TO REPLACE MEAP WITH COLLEGE ENTRANCE TEST
LANSING, Mich. — The state Legislature voted last Thursday to replace by 2007
the Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests for high school students with
a new regime based on a college entrance exam.
A package of five bills will be sent to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who will
likely sign the legislation, according to Booth Newspapers. If the bills are
approved, high school students could take a college entrance test — probably
either the SAT or ACT exams — to satisfy part of their high school assessment
requirements for state and federal testing purposes. They could then submit
their scores on this college exam to colleges and universities in order to be
admitted there.
The state Legislature would require high school students to take additional
tests under the bills, including a social studies exam. Traditional MEAP tests would still be given to elementary and middle school
students.
State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, a sponsor of the legislation, told Booth that
Michigan schools would welcome the change, saying, "They want to give a test
that means something to students." Michigan Association of Secondary School
Principals Executive Director Jim Ballard, who favors the new testing regime,
said, "It's one of the biggest educational reform steps that have been made for
the last several years in the state of Michigan."
SOURCES:
Booth Newspapers, "Legislature ousts MEAP in favor of college entrance test,"
Dec. 10, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-5/
110267700237201.xml
MichiganVotes.org, 2004 Senate Bills 1153, 1154, 1155, 1156, 1157
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2004-SB-1153
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2004-SB-1154
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2004-SB-1155
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2004-SB-1156
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2004-SB-1157
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
LAWMAKERS' BUDGET SHIFT MAINTAINS STATE SCHOOL FUND
DETROIT — A bill accepted by the Michigan House and Senate last week
will transfer general revenues to the state school aid fund to cover a
projected shortfall in the current state school budget, thereby
maintaining the per-pupil funding originally budgeted for public
schools.
The legislation was introduced in response to a projected shortfall in
the state school aid fund. The state's overestimate of its tax receipts
this year forced lawmakers to decide whether to cut payments made to
schools or to shift money into the state school aid fund from the
state's general fund, in order to cover the school fund deficit.
The state's $99.5 million transfer from the general fund to the school
aid fund will maintain the minimum per-pupil state foundation grant
given to school districts at $6,700. Without the legislation, Gov.
Jennifer Granholm would have been legally required to reduce payments
to the schools, according to The Detroit News.
SOURCES:
The Detroit News, "Transfer from general fund saves Michigan schools,"
Dec. 10, 2004
https://www.detroitnews.com/2004/schools/0412/10/A02-30041.htm
MichiganVotes.org, 2004 Senate Bill 1193
https://www.michiganvotes.org/2004-SB-1193
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Michigan's Budget Challenge"
https://www.mackinac.org/4964
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Six Habits of Fiscally
Responsible School Districts," December 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4891
SCHOOL GROUPS COMPETE FOR AUTHORIZATION AS CHARTER SCHOOLS
MUSKEGON, Mich. — Grand Valley State University officials are preparing
to award charters to two schools early next year, according to the
Muskegon Chronicle. A number of groups have expressed interest in the
openings following the university's call for applications this year.
The two GVSU charters became available after one charter school
authorized by the university closed and another switched to a different
charter authorizer (Bay Mills Community College). One of the GVSU
charters is likely to be given to University Preparatory Academy in
Detroit, according to the Chronicle, and about 20 groups are currently
competing for the other charter. State law limits the total number of
charter schools that can be authorized by the state's universities,
increasing the competition for university-granted charters.
Two of the groups that have expressed interest in GVSU charter
authorization include a K-8 academy and a K-6 Montessori school that
provides day care and preschool. Claire Chiasson, founder of the
Montessori school, told the Chronicle that obtaining a charter would
allow her to double the school's size and strengthen its finances.
SOURCES:
Muskegon Chronicle, "2 school groups hope to land state charter,"
Dec. 8, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-5/
1102520770191020.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "When Will Conventional Public
Schools Be as Accountable as Charters?" July 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6684
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Time to Stop Beating Up on Charter
Schools," November 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4864
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Impact of Limited School Choice
on Public School Districts," July 2000
https://www.mackinac.org/2962
STATE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS GUARANTEED "UNIVERSAL HIGHER EDUCATION"
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A report to Gov. Jennifer Granholm to be released
tomorrow includes a proposal to guarantee "universal higher education"
for students, according to The Ann Arbor News.
The report was prepared by Lt. Gov. John Cherry's Commission on Higher
Education and Economic Growth, and it makes over two dozen
recommendations meant to double the number of college graduates in
Michigan during the next decade. The commission's report does not
specify how to guarantee higher education for every student, but
commission members speculated to The News that solutions could include
streamlining state and federal financial programs or providing state-funded community college education.
Washtenaw Community College President Larry Whitworth told The News
that the guarantee "would be good if it could be funded, but the
possibility of it being funded is, at least in my opinion, extremely
remote." State money for higher education has been cut in the past two
years. Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy for the free-market
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told The News, "This (guarantee)
sounds like code for, 'Let us raise your taxes.'" He added, "The state
should get its K-12 system right before it tries to expand its
intervention into higher ed."
SOURCES:
The Ann Arbor News, "Higher education for all?" Dec. 11, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-11/
1102763441150360.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Going Broke by Degree,"
September 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6805
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Private Prepaid Tuition Programs
Can Help Make College Affordable," September 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3685
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Competition Among Professors Would
Help Parents Afford College," August 1999
https://www.mackinac.org/2105
BILL TO END $20 MILLION ISD SPECIAL ED PRACTICE AWAITS APPROVAL
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Press reported that a bill
approved by the state Legislature and now awaiting the signature of
Gov. Jennifer Granholm would end an intermediate school district hiring
practice for special education personnel that has cost the state
$20 million.
The Kent, Ottawa and St. Clair intermediate school districts had
allowed some special education employees in their local school
districts to be shifted to the employment roles of the intermediate
district. Intermediate districts receive a higher state reimbursement
for these staff than do local districts, and the intermediate districts
planned to give the money back to the local districts, according to The
Press.
Brian O'Connell, chief of staff for state Sen. Shirley Johnson, who
sponsored the legislation, told The Press, "We had three intermediate
school districts who were not providing any additional special
education services, but wanted $20 million more from the state because
of an accounting trick." He said, "We want to put a stop to it before
it becomes a trend."
School officials in the affected districts said they had conferred with
the state Department of Education and received informal approval from
the state attorney general before enacting the staff change. "There was
absolutely nothing underhanded about this," Forest Hills Superintendent
Michael Washburn told The Press. "Yet our legislators went off half-cocked in a lame-duck session without even giving us warning that they
were going to do it."
SOURCES:
Grand Rapids Press, "Closing loophole would cost schools,"
Dec. 11, 2004
https://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-19/
1102763793183370.xml
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Michigan's Budget Challenge"
https://www.mackinac.org/4964
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Six Habits of Fiscally
Responsible School Districts," December 2002
https://www.mackinac.org/4891
OPINION: STOPPING SOCIAL PROMOTION IMPROVES ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
VERO BEACH, Fla. — A recent opinion column in the Vero Beach Press-Journal reported evidence that ending social promotion has improved
academic performance of students who were held back from the fourth
grade for failing to pass a third-grade reading test. Florida third-graders must pass the state-mandated test to continue to the next
grade.
The column, by Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters of the nonprofit,
New York-based Manhattan Institute, described an empirical study they
performed that compared students who were held back because of their
test performance with students from the previous school year who had
had similar test scores, but had been promoted anyway, since the
requirement to pass the exam was not yet in effect. After tracking the
subsequent performance of both sets of students, the authors wrote,
"Students who were retained made gains on the (state test) greater than
those of promoted students by about 4 percentile points in reading and
10 percentile points in math."
The authors opined that their conclusions give credibility to Florida's
requirement that students master certain skills before moving to the
next grade. "The evidence indicates that the level of a student's
achievement is a better foundation for promotion decisions than the
year in which he happens to have been born." They concluded,
"Policymakers should consider the evidence and take heart that ending
social promotion in Florida is substantially improving students'
education."
SOURCES:
Vero Beach Press-Journal, "Guest Column: Ending social promotion
works," Dec. 8, 2004
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/
_vero_beach_pj-ending_social.htm
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "The Cost of Remedial Education,"
August 2000
https://www.mackinac.org/3025
SOME U.S. EDUCATORS TRY ASIAN TEACHING METHODS FOR MATHEMATICS
NEW YORK, N.Y. — Inadequate math proficiency in American students has
led many schools to import teaching methods from Asia, where students'
math skills are notably better, reported The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. students' math weaknesses could mean "America risks losing even
more jobs overseas," according to The Journal. The Journal quoted
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan as saying in March, "Many have
a gnawing sense that our problems may be more than temporary and that
the roots of the problem may extend back through our education system."
Massachusetts Education Commissioner David Driscoll led a movement in
his state to teach students math using a method developed in Singapore.
The approach covers much less material, but explores it more thoroughly
than in the United States. "Our kids just don't seem as numerate as
they should be, and we decided we needed to try whatever we can to fix
that," Driscoll told The Journal. About 200 schools nationwide use
Singapore's method for teaching math, the Journal reported.
Some states say the system does not meet their curriculum standards,
while some educators prefer other methods that they say are just as
effective in improving students' grasp of math. Still, The Journal
cites William Carey, principal of Beachmont Elementary school in
Revere, Mass., as saying that after adopting the Singapore system, his
students were behind the state average in math proficiency by only
3 percent this year, an improvement from an 8 percent deficit last
year. "When something makes a difference, people notice," Carey told
The Journal. "Word is starting to spread."
SOURCES:
Wall Street Journal, "As Math Skills Slip, U.S. Schools Seek Answers
From Asia," Dec. 13, 2004 (subscription required)
https://www.wsj.com/article/
0,,SB110288916514797758,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Asian Food for Thought,"
December 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6905
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Solve the Problem Any Way We Can,"
December 2004
https://www.mackinac.org/6904
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Plummeting Student Achievement,"
January 2001
https://www.mackinac.org/3264
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.
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