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In order to solve this problem parents of Michigan would have to work together to opt their children out of the m-step test, once the parents of Michigan opt out their children then they can start a petition to end the Michigan state test. But although it may take awhile to end the test, it will be worth it in the long run as it will stop making teachers educate their students based on the test and it will allow teachers to go back to teaching their own curriculum once again.

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In my opinion based on the experience I have from taking the test, I believe that the M-Step test is a time consuming and stressfull test that's time could be used for other in school purposes and the funding put into the test itself could be used for other things in our school systems, like updating technology, and better food for our lunchs. In conclusion the M-Step test is a lost cause, a waste of time, and a way to fire good teachers.
-Isaac Cortez

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http://www.wzzm13.com/news/education/some-detroit-parents-opting-out-of-m-step-saying-it-punishes-schools/430039974

"LaTonya Peterson, a parent of two children attending Marcus Garvey Academy, last month turned in her opt-out letter to her children's school. "There's no real benefit," to taking the state exams, Peterson said. "My kids are so much more than data. They're using our kids as a tool to close these schools."

In this article it gives light into how and why parents are opting out their children out of the M-Step, LaTonya Peterson in the article continues to explain how her kids have more potential and are smarter than what the tests portray them to be. It also explains how that even though her child is an All A student that her M-Step test results could possibly ruin her chance of getting into a good college.

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http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/11/west_michigan_school_leaders_v.html

"Grand Rapids Public Schools spokesman John Helmholdt said that while administrators have concerns with the technology requirement due to outdated equipment, the district is working to make the online test happen this spring. "We have the ability to take the test, but it’s the logistics that go along with it,” he said, noting that some laptop computers take about 20 minutes to boot. “There is a very real need for state-of the-art technology.”

As said in this article the M-Step test is a new state test that is an Online Assessment for schools, in the article it claims that while taking the test is possible. It would require 20 minutes or so to start up the required computers to take the test itself. While some schools are not technologically prepared for this they can request to have the test done with pencil and paper. While it also states that the GRPS is trying to urge state lawmakers to pass a legislation to use the sinking tax fund for schools to get updated technology, It could cost up to a some of $4 million dollars to do so.

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http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/04/some_ann_arbor_parents_opt_chi.html

"Schools and teachers can be using that time better for teaching rather than trying to gather data that is meaningless data," he said.The Common Core, which the M-STEP is based on, makes local schools beholden to the federal government, he said.Across the nation, thousands of students arStreaks e opting out of the exam from New York to Oregon, Time Magazine reports.

For example this article emphasizes how students and parents are opting out due to the reason of time wasted and low test score results. With so many parents opting out of state tests, and the M-Step, continuing the test may just cost the state more money that could be used for better uses in school systems, excluding the amount of stress out on students but teachers are also under stress too, As if students scores aren't the states standard their jobs could be on the line.

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Throughout the state of Michigan, the required M-Step tests are time consuming and extremely stressful to students and teachers.
This time taken to do testing, should be used to focus in other ways of academic learning. And funding of the test could be used to improve schools, instead of state tests. It also bases the school's and teachers curriculum to focus on the test, versus the teachers education plan.

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In this article, it states that state tests like the M-Step take to much time, that could be used to educate children, it also explains the process in opting a child out of the test.

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Just Say No to Standardized Tests: Why and How to Opt Out (Updated April 2018) | FairTest

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"Opting out," or refusing to take government-mandated standardized tests, is a powerful way to protest this educational malpractice .Nationally, hundreds of thousands of parents, teachers and students are fighting back against testing overkill by exercising their right to opt out, boycott or refuse.

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Parents Opting out leaving negative affect on schools?

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Parents Opting out leaving negative affect on schools?

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In this article it explains that hundreds of parents are opting their children out due to the low test scores, and stress. With the number of children opting out school funding is affected and lowered.

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Hundreds of Detroit parents are taking a powerful stance against the state testing they say is too often being used to punish their children's schools - a decision that could have ramifications for schools that have too few kids tested.

About 450 parents have turned in letters to their children's schools saying they want to opt their kids out of taking the Michigan Student Test of Educational Performance, according to the Detroit Parent Network, which is spearheading the opt-out effort in the city.

Testing for the annual exam begins Monday and continues through late May, with the first group to be tested in grades 5, 8 and 11. Schools must have 95% of their students tested or they could face sanctions from the state.
Also on Freep.com:
What has parents upset? Results of the exam - which assesses the standards in the state that spell out what students need to know to be on track for college and careers - are used to identify schools for improvement. In January, the state School Reform Office identified 38 such schools for potential closure because they've ranked in the bottom 5% in each of the past three years, based largely on M-STEP results.

A majority of those schools - 25 of them - are in Detroit.

The opt-out effort, "is really about parents actualizing the power that they have," said Sharlonda Buckman, executive director of the Detroit Parent Network, which has provided parents with opt-out form letters to send to their schools. "We don't control a whole lot, but we do get to direct the educational experiences of our children."

And the state exam, she said, only serves to show the disparities that exist between low-income and higher-income communities. Students who grow up in poverty tend to perform worse on standardized exams than more well-off students.

"It's about pushing back on punishing poverty," Buckman said.

The Detroit district is taking a neutral stance on the opt-out effort, said Chrystal Wilson, a spokeswoman for the district.

"Whenever a student doesn't take one of our standardized assessments, it does negatively impact on our school's accountability," said Nekeya Irby, senior executive director in the district's office of curriculum, instruction, and accountability.

It's a new issue for the district, and Irby said she couldn't recall the district ever having to deal with large numbers of opt-outs.

"We're continuing with our test preparation," Irby said Friday. "Those efforts have not slowed at all. We're just continuing to stay the course."

LaTonya Peterson, a parent of two children attending Marcus Garvey Academy, last month turned in her opt-out letter to her children's school.

"There's no real benefit," to taking the state exams, Peterson said. "My kids are so much more than data. They're using our kids as a tool to close these schools."

The parent organization, where Peterson volunteers, contends a provision in the state's law governing schools backs up parents and their ability to opt their children out of state exams.

It reads, in part, that, "It is the natural, fundamental right of parents and legal guardians to determine and direct the care, teaching and education of their children."

Legislation introduced earlier this year would give parents the right to opt their children out of any tests - whether it's the state exam or a spelling test given by a teacher.

But state officials have insisted for several years now - since a wave of opt-out efforts took hold nationwide - that parents can't opt their children out of state exams.

"There's no official way for anyone to do that," State Superintendent Brian Whiston said during a meeting in Detroit March 30 that was held to help the Detroit district come up with a turnaround plan to avoid the shuttering of schools on the potential closure list.

It's something he noted in a letter to parents that was distributed to school districts earlier in the month.

"State tests allow us to measure student progress in learning Michigan's high academic standards and assess how well schools are teaching these standards in classrooms across the state," Whiston said in the letter. "Students who are not assessed will count against their schools' participation rate, leaving schools open to penalties."
More education:
The type of penalties is unclear now, given officials at the state level are considering changes to the way schools are identified for improvement and how they are held accountable.

The threat of penalties isn't enough to convince parents like Shoniqua Kemp, whose daughter attends Osborn Evergreen Academy of Design and Alternative Energy. Her daughter, a sophomore, won't sit for the high school portion of the state exam until she's a junior. That test includes the SAT and Michigan-developed tests in science and social studies.

She's already sent in her opt-out letter. And while she doesn't have a problem with her daughter taking the SAT - an exam that will help her get into college - Kemp is opposed to her taking the other parts of the exam because she believes they won't benefit her.

Kemp said she doesn't want her daughter - who she says gets mostly straight A's in school - to take an exam "that is going to partially be used to help to close her school and that will call her a failure. She's never been a failure."

Buckman said parents trying to opt their kids out of the M-STEP exam have gotten mixed responses from principals.

"We have some parents who are being threatened or discouraged from opting their children out," Buckman said.

As for what opt-out students will do during the exam, that likely will differ from school to school.

"The schools still have a responsibility to provide a constructive, academic experience for their kids on that day. That's one of the things the letter lays out. We're very clear and specific," Buckman said.

The district as of Friday afternoon was still working to determine how it would address the opt-outs, particularly what students will be doing when their peers are taking the test.

"We're working through these details," Wilson said Friday.
Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2nYPxFV

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Some Detroit parents opting out of M-STEP, saying it punishes schools

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Hundreds of Detroit parents are taking a powerful stance against the state testing they say is too often being used to punish their children's schools - a decision that could have ramifications for schools that have too few kids tested.

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This image shows the Standardized test for Michigan students.

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In this article it explains how, Bloomfield Hills  school superintendent, believes that M-Step testing takes to long. As it can take up to 8 weeks, that could be use for other learning activities.

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BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) - If you have a kid in public schools - you know. They have been spending hours taking the state's M-Step test in recent weeks.

The superintendent of one of the most highly ranked school district's in the state, says the test is out of control. The biggest complaint is how much time it takes.

"It consumes, as a district, at least 8 weeks of our time," said Rob Glass, Superintendent of Bloomfield Hills Schools.

The testing happens to kids in second through eleventh grade. Depending on their grade, kids spend four to eight grueling hours on a computer - testing.

Classes are interrupted for much longer, because in high school kids of different grades have classes together.

Another complaint is the state's system can't handle the online testing.

It also consumes the local school's IT system.

The test takes up an enormous amount of bandwidth. As a result, during those 8 weeks internet service is shut down to kids who are not taking the test in Bloomfield Hills Schools.

In many cases the internet crashes as kids take the test. When that happens, testing can eat up even more hours of potential class time.

Taking a look at the third grade class at one Bloomfield Hills Elementary School this week, only eleven out of ninety-five students completed the test. On Monday, eight students were bumped off-line. On Tuesday, everyone was bumped off-line mid test.

Now the school will have to offer extended sessions so kids can make up for that.

Then there is the big question. What is the point?

"The whole model of school reform in this country has been based on the notion of standards and accountability. Basically you have high standards, and you have to test. You have to give the same test to everyone to compare and that is how schools get better. That is the premise. I believe it is a false premise. It doesn't seem to be working at all," said Rob Glass, Superintendent Bloomfield Hills Schools.

"What it does is it causes teachers to stifle innovation, teach to the test, and stops the kind of instruction we need across the district for a good 8 weeks so we can have these tests," said Glass.

You might ask, since many teachers work at schools with leaders opposed to the test, why would it impact a teacher's actions in the classrooms.

"The model that the State and Federal policy makers have adopted over the years says keep the good teachers, get rid of the bad teachers," explains Glass. "And under this model, how do we know who is bad? Get rid of the ones not doing well at this test. It is a flawed design."

So who is for the M-Step test? School leaders joked- the people who sell it.

The Michigan Department of Education is under the leadership of a relatively new State Superintendent of Schools named Brian Whiston. He also wants a different way testing.

"He is developing recommendations to coordinate testing for the state and local districts that will further reduce the overall testing time for Michigan students. Many school districts in Michigan currently give tests in the fall and spring to measure growth through the year. Whiston is working to align these with the required state assessment and provide this information for all schools, educators, and parents," said Bill DiSessa, of the Michigan Department of Educations Office of Public and Governmental Affairs.

"I think kids could learn a lot more if they didn't have to take this test. We are measuring the elephant a lot, but we're not feeding it," said Bill Boyle, the Director of the Model Center in Bloomfield Hills Schools.

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Is the M-Step test hurting your kids, their teachers, and Michigan's schools?

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BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) - If you have a kid in public schools - you know. They have been spending hours taking the state's M-Step test in recent weeks. The superintendent of one of the most highly ranked school district's in the state, says the test is out of control.

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Throughout the state of Michigan, the required M-Step (standardized) tests are time consuming and extremely stressful to students and teachers.