A month into the state-run assessment program for special education students, called MI-Access, program officials and Lansing area teachers are divided about its effectiveness.
The Lansing and East Lansing school districts began testing special education students last month as Michigan became the first state to meet federal requirements for the assessment of students with disabilities.
But Cynthia Arcaro, director of special programs in the East Lansing School District said she has mixed feelings about the test.
“I understand the state’s need for accountability and I understand that we have to comply to the government,” she said.
“But I’m not sure that it will provide us with any information that the teachers don’t already know.”
Arcaro said teachers are constantly assessing their students and MI-Access forces them to focus on one student when they have eight to 10 others in the class.
“These tests are a very one-size-fits-all type of model and our special education students are very unique,” Arcaro said.
MI-Access was developed in response to the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1997 and Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1994.
Both laws require states to include children with disabilities in state and districtwide assessments with appropriate accommodations.
Phase 1 began Feb. 18, lasts six weeks and will assess 4,500 to 7,000 students in the state with severe and moderate cognitive impairments.
Because of the wide range of the students’ disabilities, an Individualized Education Program Team determines which test is best for each student out of four possible tests: the Michigan Educational Assessment Program test, the MEAP with accommodations, MI-Access Participation or MI-Access Supported Independence.
The MI-Access tests rely on teachers to watch students carry out a standard set of activities during a normal school day and score them on a 1-to-4 scale.
Peggy Dutcher, education research consultant for the state, said the children don’t know they’re being assessed. She also said state officials are taping some of the assessments, scoring the child and then comparing the score to the one the teacher gave to test for efficiency of the scoring.
“It’s important for schools to be responsible and accountable for all of the students in their building,” Dutcher said.
“When students are not tested they tend to get lost in the shuffle.”
One area administrator agreed the test is beneficial.
“They don’t seem to be intrusive,” said Thomas Sampson, principal of Beekman Center, 2901 Wabash Road in Lansing, where 29 students are being assessed with MI-Access.
“I think it’ll help tie in the curriculum in the age longitude.”
Test results must be displayed through the same methods as the MEAP, including school reports, parent reports and on the Web, Dutcher said. She also said MI-Access does not directly result in school funding at this point, but funds can be lost by not complying to government regulations.
“The only way we are going to make progress is to test,” said Eugene Pernell, an MSU counseling, educational psychology and special education professor. “We can’t use the regular tests for students with disabilities so the ball game is all about how we test them.”
