LANSING — Michigan’s Department of Education is considering on adding a standardized test that would assess students’ abilities even more than the M-STEP test, which was carried out in the 2014-2015 school year. 

It tests the students’ critical thinking, problem solving, and if they can communicate ideas well. The emphasis on such skills is part of MDE’s plan to raise the state to the top 10 in education in the upcoming 10 years.

State Superintendent Brian Whiston said this assessment will happen a couple times a year to track student development in meeting those “top 10 in 10” goals. 

“If that’s what we want students to look like and we align our classrooms to that, then we ought to have an assessment system aligned to it as well,” he said. “And so we want problem solving, we want to be able to test writing, communication skills, and being able to work independently and as teams.”

Also, the assessment would not substitute the M-STEP, but would decrease the amount of times students take the present test to only once in elementary school and once in middle school.