October 19, 2007  

LANSING – To prevent another security breach of the grade 5 and 6 MEAP writing prompts, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is requiring that all fifth and sixth graders in the state be given the replacement writing prompts as the first school activity on Wednesday, November 7, 2007.

Last week, there was a security breach at a local school district of the MEAP writing prompt at grades 5 and 6. To ensure fairness to all students and to protect the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status of each school giving that test, the department determined that all students in those grades be given a replacement writing prompt – a decision concurred in by the U. S. Department of Education on Thursday.

MDE is notifying schools to cancel other plans for that morning to accommodate this extraordinary situation.  Where there are contractual obligations or other immovable commitments for that morning, schools may contact the department to request approval to give the replacement test in the afternoon of November 7, or on a different day during the previously-announced testing window of Monday, November 5 to Tuesday, November 13.   Any school testing time not on the morning of November 7 must be pre-approved by MDE.

“We realize that this could disrupt some school activities,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan, “but in this age of technology – with text messaging, blogging, and MySpace that kids use every day – we now have to resort to these additional security measures.”

Students who are absent during the school testing time may be given the replacement writing prompt at any subsequent time during the remainder of the one-week testing window.