MEAP is here...but not to stay!

Students in Grades 3-5 will take the MEAP test beginning Tuesday and continuing through next week. It's an opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of the previous year's material. (In other words, 3rd graders are tested on 2nd grade material, and so on.)

All three grades take the Reading and Math tests. 4th grade also takes a Writing test and 5th grade takes the Science test.

You may or may not know, but the MEAP test will not be around for much longer. The plan for the future is for nearly every student in the country in grades 3-12 to take national standardized tests, beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The MEAP test is based on Michigan's own state teaching standards. The new test (yet to be named) will be based on the Common Core State Standards, a national set of standards that 46 states and the District of Columbia agreed to adopt.

You'll hear a lot more about Common Core as the year goes on. We want to share all the info with parents as it becomes available. But we can tell you that here are UPA Ellen Thompson, we have already begun the transition to the new standards. We are definitely ahead of the curve!