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Monday, December 2, 2013

MDE Report: “Smarter Balanced Only Viable Option” | Truth in American Education

MDE Report: “Smarter Balanced Only Viable Option” | Truth in American Education:

Truth in American Education



MDE Report: “Smarter Balanced Only Viable Option”

Filed in Common Core Assessments by  on December 2, 2013 • 0 Comments
When the Michigan Legislature made the unfortunate decision to lift the ban on funding for the Common Core they requested a report from the Michigan Department of Education outlining the different assessment options.  They looked at 12 different options.  Their report provides summaries on cost, scoring and reporting methods, test security transparency, and over all design.
They said only three tests were aligned to the Common Core: Measured Progress, PARCC and Smarter Balanced.
Final determination?
Smarter Balanced is the only viable option.
“Because Smarter Balanced was designed primarily by state assessment directors to understand these needs, this should not be a surprising result,” the report states.
Of course it shouldn’t be a surprising result as the Department is biased and this is the assessment they’ve been working toward.  It would have been better to commission an outside third party do the report.  Common sense should have told them that MDE would be incapable of providing an unbiased report.
Now it’s up to the Michigan legislators to decide whether or not to accept this report.  Based on their recent actions I’m not going to hold my breath.  I’ve said to some friends that one of the traits I look for in elected officials is a healthy distrust of bureaucrats.  That seems to be lacking in the Michigan Legislature.  Not that there are not good state employees, there are, but a legislator that just buys what a department tells them verbatim without verification and third-party research has no business being in a state legislature (or Congress).
You can read the report for yourself below.

About the Author ()

Shane Vander Hart is the Editor-in-Chief of Caffeinated Thoughts, a popular Christian conservative blog in Iowa. He is also the President of 4:15 Communications, a social media & communications consulting/management firm, along with serving as the communications director for American Principles Project’s Preserve Innocence Initiative.  Prior to this Shane spent 20 years in youth ministry serving in church, parachurch, and school settings.  He has taught Jr. High History along with being the Dean of Students for Christian school in Indiana.  Shane and his wife home school their three teenage children and have done so since the beginning.   He has recently been recognized by Campaigns & Elections Magazine as one of the top political influencers in Iowa. Shane and his family reside near Des Moines, IA.  You can connect with Shane on Facebook, follow him onTwitter or connect with him on Google +.