M-STEP
Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress
Teaching the Michigan State Academic Standards is test prep for the M-STEP, but what else can we do to help our students be successful on our state assessments?
PRACTICE WITH RELEASED ITEMS!
Online CAT Practice
Paper-Pencil Items
SMARTER BALANCED ITEMS
Many questions on M-STEP are from the Smarter Balanced Question Bank, so if you are looking for additional practice items go to: http://sampleitems.smarterbalanced.org/
*Note short answer questions & performance tasks are no longer part of M-STEP.
PASSAGE-BASED WRITING (PBW)
The TEXT-DEPENDENT ANALYSIS (essay) from the 2018 ELA M-STEP is now called PASSAGE-BASED WRITING on the 2019 ELA M-STEP.
The passage-based writing (PBW) has two components—a passage and a writing prompt. After reading the passage, the students are asked to write an essay with supporting evidence from the passage. PBW essays are scored on a 4-point holistic rubric. For the CAT, students will be presented with the passage and writing prompt near the beginning of the test.
Passage-Based Writing (PBW) Rubric
Passage-Based Writing (PBW) Essay Prompts
Passage-Based Writing (PBW) Prompts & Student Essay Scores
WRITING STANDARDS ASSESSED
Grade 3 WRITING:
- Informative/explanatory
- Aligned to Standards W2 and W8
Grades 4 – 7 WRITING:
- Informative/explanatory
- Aligned to standards W2, W4, W8, W9
For more information see MDE M-STEP-2019 Updates PowerPoint
RESOURCES FOR PASSAGE-BASED WRITING
NEBRASKA TDA Examples
VIDEOS
Writing Exemplars
STAFF OR GRADE LEVEL REFLECTION AFTER VIEWING RELEASED ITEMS
What skills do our students need to be successful on M-STEP?
Are there any instructional shifts we need to make to help our students be successful?
ONLINE TOOLS TUTORIAL
The ONLINE TOOLS TUTORIALS are short videos that go over each tool and can be viewed individually or as a whole group. Viewing the M-STEP videos will take approximately 25 minutes, but for grades 7 & 8 there is an additional 13 minute scientific calculator video.
Can a student testing online write out the BPW response on a scratch piece of paper before typing it online?
- New scratch paper must be distributed at the start of each test.
- Used scratch paper is a secure material.
- All used scratch paper must be collected and returned immediately at the end of the test session to the Building Assessment Coordinator to be securely stored in a locked storage area.
- Any used scratch paper must have the student’s name clearly marked in order to return it to students for use in a later test session while completing the test.
- All used scratch paper must be securely destroyed after the student completes the test.
GUIDE TO STATE ASSESSMENTS
For any additional information go to MDE's Assessment & Accountability webpage.
The Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy and What Work Clearinghouse Practice Guides are research supported instructional practices that have been proved to have a positive impact on student achievement. Aligning our instructional practices to research and teaching the state standards will help our students be successful not only on our Michigan State Assessments, but also in their future lives.