May 14, 2007

LANSING - Proposed state standards/expectations for Social Studies and Science learning are available for public review and comment following the submission of the draft documents to the State Board of Education.

These curriculum standards will reflect what students are expected to know and understand at various grade levels and subjects. The proposed standards are available online until June 29 and can be accessed through the Michigan Department of Education website: www.michigan.gov/highschool. 

In addition, the standards/expectations also will be submitted for a review by national experts.

"I am very impressed by these expectations," said State Board of Education President Kathleen N. Straus. "I wish I would have learned many of the things included in these expectations when I was in school - like having the opportunity to learn about the Middle East or Africa.

"These will help prepare our students not only for success at the post-secondary level, but prepare our children to be responsible citizens, too," Straus added.

The proposed expectations were developed by the Michigan Department of Education in collaboration with expert educators from local and intermediate school districts, and institutions of higher education. Committees and workgroups developed the draft expectations and reviewed over a thousand pages of state and national standards. The draft expectations are aligned with national testing standards.

Feedback from these local, state, legislative, and national reviews will be incorporated into a final set of expectations that will be presented to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan. Flanagan then will present his recommendations to the State Board of Education for its consideration beginning with Social Studies in the fall, followed by Science by the end of this year.

IN OTHER ACTION: The State Board received a report from the Michigan Department of Education on the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) performance - the state tests that people take to become certified teachers in Michigan.

The report shows that from September 2005 to August 2006, nearly 86 percent of the people who took a teacher certification test passed it the first time they took it; and nearly 90 percent passed the test at a subsequent taking. There are 70 specific curriculum areas that are tested for certification.

"Not only are we required to do this (report)," said State Board Vice President John C. Austin, "we want to do this to provide transparency to our teacher prep programs."

All teachers in Michigan public school classrooms must pass their state content area exam in order to become certificated.

To access the Social Studies and Science public review and comment webpage, go the Michigan Department of Education homepage: www.michigan.gov/mde and go to the Current Topics box.

To access the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Performance Report for 2005-06, click on this link: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Item_K_194172_7.pdf