Michigan Social Studies Standards: Are they being updated?
This past week, I had the opportunity to attend professional development (PD) at the Macomb Intermediate School District. The purpose of this PD was to learn about the status of the Michigan Social Studies Standards that are in the process of being adopted. Two guests from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) joined us. Jim Cameron, a Curriculum and Instruction staff member at MDE informed us about the status of the standards. While it was thought that the standards would be adopted in August, they now will not be presented to the State Board of Education until sometime in 2018. While the K-5 social studies standards will see minimal changes, middle school, specifically 6th and 7th grade, will see many changes to the standards. Jim Cameron's advice for teachers now is to continue to teach the standards that were adopted in 2007 until further notice.
Scott Koenig, Social Studies Assessment Consultant, also joined us to speak about the Social Studies Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP). Students in grade 5, 8 and 11 take the Social Studies M-STEP, which is a computerized test. Students in grade 5 are assessed on content that ranges from K-5. Scott informed us that although the standards will be changing, it is unlikely that the Social Studies M-STEP will see many changes.
While not much information was shared about the new standards, it was still a successful day of professional development, as districts from all around Macomb County were able to come together and share social studies information and curriculum with one another. I have included below links to the different resources that were shared. Enjoy!
