LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- The state schools chief wants to let local districts experiment with student testing.
State Superintendent Brian Whiston says Michigan will file for a federal waiver to allow five percent of the state’s school districts to opt out of the M-STEP and try their own tests.
Whiston says technology and social media are changing how kids learn, and student testing should reflect that.
“And kids are going to do very well at it because it’s where they’re at,” he says.
Whiston notes student testing has not kept up with how kids think.
“The next version of testing, I think, is going to be games where kids sit down and solve problems, and don’t even know they’re taking a test.”
Whiston says he wants to file for the waiver from the U-S Department of Education within the next two months. He is about to retire to focus on his battle with cancer.