As soon as the MEAP era officially ended with the last test in October 2013, the question of ‘what’s next?? became an ongoing headache for Michigan educators.
For a while, the Smarter Balanced Assessment seemed like a likely successor, until, after the start of this school year, the state decided on M-STEP (Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress). Michigan’s new assessment system was developed for one year only by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), which claims that it is ‘designed to measure student growth effectively for today’s students.?
M-STEP seems like quite an endeavor. English language arts and math will be assessed in grades 3?8, science in grades 4 and 7, and social studies in grades 5 and 8. For 11th graders, it doesn’t stop at that; it boasts Michigan Merit Examination ? a combination of the ACT Plus Writing, WorkKeys, and M-STEP summative in ELA, math, science, and social studies.?
Of course, MDE did its own math ? the average amount of time each of our children will have to spend agonizing over his or her performance during testing, ranges from 7 hours for 8-year-old 3rd graders to 11.20 hours for 11th graders.
The exact schedule in Clarkston looks a jigsaw puzzle: each testing piece has to come in the precise timing, especially for the high school students, since many of them have’AP and IB exams coinciding with M-STEP.
What about the implementation? The marathon testing, which has to be completed online, will start on April 13th and end on June 7th – nearly two months of continuous coordination of the equipment and space.
The high school students will test the weeks of April 13th and 20th, while AP exams are scheduled for the weeks of May 4th and 11th.
The ‘mega lab? at Sashabaw Middle School with 120 computers will be used to test Clarkston’s 1,150 6th and 7th graders. Some elementary schools are raising money for additional Chromebook carts that contain 32 computers and wireless access points, to be used in any location.
This will supplement limited computer labs and laptop supply, already purchased by the district. What’s going to happen when 28 districts in Oakland County begin online testing through one Oakland Schools? network, all at the same time, is also in the area of unknown.
So how effectively is M-STEP going to measure our kids? educational growth? In the last two months of this school year, no one will likely use the computer labs for anything other than testing.
Hours of learning time and opportunities for that educational growth are going to be lost. Our administration is considering potential impacts on curriculum and other changes that would occur with the implementation of this assessment. ‘It will effectively disrupt our schools.
The final ‘measurements? will effectively reflect the hurried planning of our state government and the rushed changes, causing an 8-year-old’s anxiety over a lack of computer skills and a speed in navigating. They will reflect a teen’s stress and fatigue.
Based on this, our school district, teachers, and administrators will get measured and funding will be disbursed. There will be a new test again next year, and this chorus will be repeated all over again.
Whether is it MEAP, M-STEP, or some other fancy abbreviation that is yet to come, what seems rather clear is that standardized tests tell us nothing about our kids, their learning, thinking, or growth, as they tell us nothing about their teachers? effectiveness. They take a lot of work for no gain.
Arina Bokas is the Clarkston PTA Council president

Every once in a while, the questions of ‘Why we are a PTA and not a PTO??, and ‘What is the difference between them?? come up at every school. Often times, it is simply a matter of dollars and cents’we send money out of our school to be the PTA.
Some differences between a Parent Teacher Association and Parent Teacher Organization are obvious.
The National PTA is a formal membership organization with a 105-year history of advocating for children. PTA groups have to pay dues and abide by state and national PTA rules. In return, they get member benefits and a voice in the operations of the larger organization. PTO, on the other hand, refers to self-governed local groups, independent of the PTA.
The key difference, however, according to National PTA, is ‘your group is part of state and national political and advocacy efforts. And your group can play a role in determining National PTA positions.?
National PTA maintains its advocacy office in Washington D.C., and our Michigan PTA advocates in Lansing. When you join the PTA, you are adding one more voice in support of your school and your student.
What does this mean to us here in Clarkston? Our recent advocacy efforts seem to be a good example. In December 2014, the Bolger proposal passed the House, eliminating the 6% sales tax on gasoline and replacing it with an increase in the gasoline tax.
Because the School Aid Fund receives 4.3% of the 6% sales tax, this would’ve equated to a loss of $600-700 million per year, or $415 per student. Michigan PTA immediately took a stand against this proposal and issued an alert to all local councils and units, asking them to oppose this legislation.
On behalf of our community, the Clarkston PTA Council contacted our Representatives Gail Haines and Eileen Kowall, and Senators Jim Marleau and David Robertson, joining dozens of other units and organizations to prevent this from happening.
As a result of this collective advocacy, Governor Snyder and legislative leaders came up with a plan to raise $1.2 billion for road repairs, without reducing money earmarked for the School Aid Fund.
In her letter to PTA units, Teresa Marhofer, Michigan PTA President, wrote, ‘We thank all our members, parents and advocates that came together to help our voice be heard on this important issue. The most important part is that we secure the education needs of all children in Michigan. They are our future.?
So what’s special about the PTA? The PTA’s nationwide network gives our parents an opportunity to connect within the forum and tools to collectively influence the decisions that affect our children at their schools, our state, and our nation. This type of influence is hard to overestimate.
Arina Bokas is the Clarkston PTA Council president ? ??

‘I want to be an independent thinker.? ‘I want to inspire others.? ‘I want to be proud to be me and help others do the same.? ‘To have any job I want.? ‘To contribute positively to the world.? These are examples of what 17-year-old Clarkston seniors wish to achieve as the result of their education in our schools.
‘Student achievement? as a political term drives many national, state, and local educational decisions. After all, isn’t this what we want for our children: to achieve? The bigger question is what, exactly, does achievement mean?
Some might argue achievement is documented in the form of scores on state assessments, such as the MEAP. Research suggests these tests don’t truly measure learning.
Still, the Michigan Department of Education uses them to determine how much money the district gets as a reward for achieving a success in ? testing. So should our Clarkston schools make such achievement a priority?
Some in a position of power might answer ? yes. Schools do have expenses and infrastructures. Budget is important. But so are our kids. If we make this our priority, what really will our children achieve?
Schools don’t manufacture goods. Our children are not products. How do we price our children’s hopes, confidence, perseverance, abilities to reason, problem-solve, and form relationships? How much is the mind worth?
What we, as a community, see as our children’s achievement at school is reflective of our beliefs about intelligence, knowledge, success and failure, work ethics, and the future. It’s a reflection of what we value in our kids.
Academic knowledge is undoubtedly important; just maybe not as a self-containing entity, but as a way to achieve what is really meaningful to us.
As our fast-paced world could throw anyone off a familiar path, the reason some people become successful is more about attitude than knowledge of facts. By the time our children leave school, a lot of what they learned may already be headed toward obsolescence.
Often, when the focus is on what is meaningful to learners, the test scores follow. On June 5, 2002, Director-General Ko’chiro Matsuura awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education to the City Montessori School in India.
This school was established on four essential principles: universal values, excellence, global understanding, and service to the community. Its students systematically score higher on exams than the national average.
Our district administrators and teachers, led by superintendent Dr. Rod Rock, are continuously exploring new educational concepts that could impact our children’s life achievement.
Just recently, on October 10-12, 2014, nine CCS educators presented at the Project Zero conference, co-hosted by Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. The over-arching theme of Making, Thinking, Understanding invited participants to reflect on ways to create and sustain engaging, enriching, and rigorous learning opportunities.
Clarkston schools are gaining a reputation for innovative thinking and meaningful approaches to learning among the leading educational communities in the world.
Sadly, standardized tests-driven ‘student achievement? seems to prevail every time our district’s priorities are being discussed. Some see it as the only priority.
The words of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper cannot be more timely: ‘The most dangerous phrase in the language is ‘We’ve always done it this way?.?
Perhaps we need to take our focus from student achievement and put it on student success, measured by meaningful knowledge and lifelong skills that will stand the test of time.
Arina Bokas is president of Clarkston PTA Council and vice president of Bailey Lake Elementary PTA.

This summer Ashleigh Guidoux, a Bailey Lake Elementary parent of a second-grader and a kindergartner, decided to use her talent as a graphic designer for a collective good.
She created, made an initial investment, and brought to Clarkston Love Clarkston spirit wear, donating all the proceeds to students of Clarkston Community Schools. While the initiative to contribute to our children’s education lacks nothing of being awesome, the design itself – a map of Michigan with a little heart symbolizing our town – tells the true story of what makes CCS great.
Clarkston’s reputation of an exceptional school district is well established. As every year it attracts hundreds of newcomers, we, parents, receive yet another affirmation that our children belong to a great school system.
However, if faced with the question of what makes our schools great, most likely we would recite an excellent selection of rigorous programs and educational opportunities, test scores, and various accolades received by individual schools.
While these are important indicators, the true greatness is never defined by programs and scores. It is defined by people who constitute our schools. Every day, largely unnoticed, our administrators, teachers, parents, and students contribute in big and little ways to our district’s present and future successes.
Last year, Clarkston High School students Tyler Dunn and Camron Razdar came up with the idea of The Clarkston Help, a tutoring program for Sashabaw Middle School students. They found the immediate support of many other IB students who provided free tutoring every Sunday.
Grace Anderson organized an American Sign Language class for students at Independence Elementary. Monica Gorgas, Tessa Manilla, and Katelyn Moloney ran a fundraiser and made blankets for Sparrow Children’s Hospital, while Hannah Hawkins took charge of fall and spring clean-ups of Clintonwood Park.
These self-motivated initiatives of giving couldn’t happen without prior guidance. What our children do has a direct connection to the values and behavior of adults around them. As leaders lead by example, examples of true care and dedication of CCS’s staff can be easily found throughout our district.
Jennifer Johnson, a Sashabaw Middle School assistant principal, spent over two years on her extensive research of a Culture of Thinking and offered explicit evidence critical for deep implementation. It has strong potential to affect teaching and learning in Clarkston and around the world.
Convinced that every child is capable of self-confidence, North Sashabaw Elementary principal Tara Ouellette launched The Leader in Me school transformation model – a large-scale undertaking extending well beyond school hours.
Andersonville Elementary principal Bruce Martin brought to Clarkston Blessings in a Backpack – a staff-supported program that provides elementary children in need with a backpack of food for 38 weekends during the school year. Glenn Gualtieri, Bailey Lake Elementary principal, created a meaningful event, personal connection, – “a lunch with a principal” – to which each of the school’s 600 students is invited at least once while at BLE; at the principal’s own expense.
Renaissance High School principal Billie Pambid, who believes that relationships can transform her students, transformed her own office to provide quiet time and a place to those who need it, with a student desk as a permanent fixture.
Many of Clarkston’s teachers see their profession not as a job, but a way of life. Pine Knob Elementary Physical Education teacher Anthony Taormina began a free after-school program, allowing children to experience a wide variety of sports. Sashabaw Middle School Applied Technology teacher Kim Prentice designed a program for the school’s Carrier Day, and, because of an unexpected back surgery, continued updating and coordinating it from her doctor’s office.
Junior High School Spanish teacher Danielle Barkman, a facilitator of an after-school Spanish club, provided an authentic cuisine experience for all her students by purchasing products at her own expense and making necessary time-consuming preparations at home.
Clarkston Schools have a great tradition of Academic Service Learning, which also rests entirely on the staff’s enthusiasm and desire to make a difference.
At Sashabaw Middle School, to name a just a few, Kerri Gualtieri, Stephanie Jensen, and Angie Cooper’s sixth grade math classes used their math skills to purchase, measure and cut fleece blankets for critically ill children at Genesis and William Beaumont Hospitals.
Carolyn Savoie’s Computer Apps 6th /7th grade classes have been partnering with the community’s senior citizens, to tutor them on how to use technology devices, while Sue Wilson’s 7th -grade Language Arts students were mentoring North Sashabaw Elementary pupils in both reading and writing.
Independence Elementary kindergartners assembled personal care packages for Grace Centers of Hope; first graders made pet toys for the Humane Society; second graders supported the military by assembling care packages and creating good luck charms; thirds graders donated and packed muffins for Meals on Wheels; and fifth graders and their teachers made fleece blankets for Children’s Miracle Network.
Our students make an impact on the global community as well. While researching the global problem of accessing fresh water, Kelly Bertin’s 6th grade Social Studies class partnered with Helping Hearts Helping Hands to raise money for filtration systems in Honduras at $100 each. Students raised enough money to buy 15 systems.
The CHS Destination Imagination Team – Matthew Dargay, Kayla Hemingsen, Bonnie Petkus, James Roschefski, Jacob Topham, and Erica Yeloushan – designed a series of activities to raise money for Water, a global charity organization that focuses on the global water crises. Their goal was to raise $6,000 for the digging of a well in Cambodia.
Clarkston parents are also eager to support our schools. Kim Hardtke, last year’s Bailey Lake Elementary PTA Volunteer coordinator, founded a Jr. Optimist Club, whose #1 priority was to help the City of Detroit.
Accompanied by their parents, 10-year-old Optimists traveled down to Cass Community Social Services located in Detroit and worked in their kitchen, preparing meals for veterans, homebound and homeless individuals in the city.
Chelsea O’Brien, organizer of the Independence Elementary Garden Club, along with Camila Duarte and Jessica Sorensen, and many parents and staff members led students on a year-long adventure of beautifying the school and transforming its courtyard into an amazing Learning Garden.
These are just very few examples of greatness we can encounter at our schools. Every year hundreds of parent volunteers go above and beyond to share their time, talents, and skills with our students.
Every year our teachers and staff go above and beyond to provide authentic educational and personal experiences that will prepare our children for their future in this complex, interconnected world.
Love Clarkston tells the true story – it’s the love our community has for its children and the commitment to their learning that make our school system great.
Arina Bokas is president of Clarkston PTA Council and vice president of Bailey Lake Elementary PTA.