Education: examinations; opt-out option for the workforce readiness assessment portion of the Michigan merit examination; provide for, the official text

Act
No. 57

Public
Acts of 2025

Approved
by the Governor

December
23, 2025

Filed
with the Secretary of State

December
23, 2025

EFFECTIVE
DATE:  Sine Die

(91st day after final adjournment of the 2025 Regular Session)

state of michigan

103rd Legislature

Regular session of 2025

Introduced by Senators Polehanki, McMorrow, Geiss, Irwin
and Bayer

ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 349

AN ACT to amend 1976 PA 451,
entitled “An act to provide a system of public instruction and elementary and
secondary schools; to revise, consolidate, and clarify the laws relating to
elementary and secondary education; to provide for the organization,
regulation, and maintenance of schools, school districts, public school
academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school entities; to
prescribe rights, powers, duties, and privileges of schools, school districts,
public school academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school
entities; to provide for the regulation of school teachers and certain other
school employees; to provide for school elections and to prescribe powers and
duties with respect thereto; to provide for the levy and collection of taxes;
to provide for the borrowing of money and issuance of bonds and other evidences
of indebtedness; to establish a fund and provide for expenditures from that
fund; to make appropriations for certain purposes; to provide for and prescribe
the powers and duties of certain state departments, the state board of
education, and certain other boards and officials; to provide for licensure of
boarding schools; to prescribe penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,”
by amending section 1279g (MCL 380.1279g), as amended by 2016 PA 170.

The People of the State of
Michigan enact:

Sec.
1279g. (1) The board of a school district or board of directors of a public
school academy shall comply with this section and shall administer the Michigan
merit examination to pupils in grade 11, and to pupils in grade 12 who did not
take the complete Michigan merit examination in grade 11, as provided in this
section.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the department of
technology, management, and budget shall contract with 1 or more providers to
develop, supply, and score the Michigan merit examination. The Michigan merit
examination shall consist of all of the following:

(a) Assessment instruments that measure English language
arts, mathematics, reading, and science and are used by colleges and
universities in this state for entrance or placement purposes. This shall
include a writing component in which the pupil produces an extended writing
sample. The Michigan merit examination shall not require any other extended
writing sample.

(b) One or more tests from 1 or more test developers that
assess a pupil’s ability to apply at least reading and mathematics skills in a
manner that is intended to allow employers to use the results in making
employment decisions. The department of technology, management, and budget and
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any test or tests
selected under this subdivision have all the components necessary to allow a
pupil to be eligible to receive the results of a nationally recognized
evaluation of workforce readiness if the pupil’s test performance is adequate.
Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, a pupil may elect not to take a test
described in this subdivision through a waiver that is developed by the
department, made available on the department’s website, and both signed and
submitted to the pupil’s school district, intermediate school district, or
public school academy by the pupil’s parent or legal guardian by not later than
February 28 of the school year in which the test will be administered. The
department shall consult with an individual who represents business in this
state, an individual who represents manufacturing in this state, and an
individual who represents skilled trades organizations in this state to develop
an informational letter about the purpose and benefits of the workforce
readiness assessment. A school district, intermediate school district, or
public school academy shall ensure that the informational letter is provided to
all pupils described in subsection (1) and the parents or legal guardians of
those pupils by not later than December 31 of the school year in which the test
will be administered.

(c) A social studies component.

(d) Any other component that is necessary to obtain the
approval of the United States Department of Education to use the Michigan merit
examination for the purposes of the no child left behind act of 2001, Public
Law 107-110, or the every student succeeds act, Public Law 114-95.

(3) In addition to all other requirements of this section,
all of the following apply to the Michigan merit examination:

(a) The department of technology, management, and budget and
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any contractor used
for scoring the Michigan merit examination supplies an individual report for
each pupil that will identify for the pupil’s parents or legal guardians and
teachers whether the pupil met expectations or failed to meet expectations for
each standard, to allow the pupil’s parents or legal guardians and teachers to
assess and remedy problems before the pupil moves to the next grade.

(b) The department of technology, management, and budget and
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any contractor used
for scoring, developing, or processing the Michigan merit examination meets
quality management standards commonly used in the assessment industry,
including at least meeting level 2 of the capability maturity model developed
by the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University for the
first year the Michigan merit examination is offered to all grade 11 pupils and
at least meeting level 3 of the capability maturity model for subsequent years.

(c) The department of technology, management, and budget and
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any contract for
scoring, administering, or developing the Michigan merit examination includes
specific deadlines for all steps of the assessment process, including, but not
limited to, deadlines for the correct testing materials to be supplied to
schools and for the correct results to be returned to schools, and includes
penalties for noncompliance with these deadlines.

(d) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure
that the Michigan merit examination meets all of the following:

(i) Is designed to test pupils on grade
level content expectations or course content expectations, as appropriate, in
all subjects tested.

(ii) Complies with requirements of the no
child left behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, or the every student
succeeds act, Public Law 114-95, as applicable.

(iii) Is consistent with the code of fair
testing practices in education prepared by the joint committee on testing
practices of the American Psychological Association.

(iv) Is factually accurate. If the
superintendent of public instruction determines that a question is not
factually accurate and should be excluded from scoring, the state board and the
superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the question is excluded
from scoring.

(4) A school district or public school academy that operates
a high school shall include on each pupil’s high school transcript all of the
following:

(a) For each high school graduate who has completed the
Michigan merit examination under this section, the pupil’s scaled score on each
subject area component of the Michigan merit examination.

(b) The number of school days the pupil was in attendance at
school each school year during high school and the total number of school days
in session for each of those school years.

(5) The superintendent of public instruction shall work with
the provider or providers of the Michigan merit examination to produce Michigan
merit examination subject area scores for each pupil participating in the
Michigan merit examination, including scaling and merging of test items for the
different subject area components. The superintendent of public instruction
shall design and distribute to school districts, public school academies,
intermediate school districts, and nonpublic schools a simple and concise
document that describes the scoring for each subject area and indicates the
scaled score ranges for each subject area.

(6) The Michigan merit examination shall be administered each
year after March 1 and before June 1 to pupils in grade 11. The superintendent
of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan merit examination is
scored and the scores are returned to pupils, the pupils’ parents or legal
guardians, and schools not later than the beginning of the pupil’s first
semester of grade 12. The returned scores shall indicate at least the pupil’s
scaled score for each subject area component and the range of scaled scores for
each subject area. In reporting the scores to pupils, parents, legal guardians,
and schools, the superintendent of public instruction shall provide
standards-specific, meaningful, and timely feedback on the pupil’s performance
on the Michigan merit examination.

(7) A school district or public school academy shall
administer the complete Michigan merit examination to a pupil only once and
shall not administer the complete Michigan merit examination to the same pupil
more than once. If a pupil does not take the complete Michigan merit
examination in grade 11, the school district or public school academy shall
administer the complete Michigan merit examination to the pupil in grade 12. If
a pupil chooses to retake the college entrance examination component of the Michigan
merit examination, as described in subsection (2)(a), the pupil may do so
through the provider of the college entrance examination component and the cost
of the retake is the responsibility of the pupil unless all of the following
are met:

(a) The pupil has taken the complete Michigan merit
examination.

(b) The pupil meets the income eligibility criteria for free
breakfast, lunch, or milk, as determined under the Richard B. Russell national
school lunch act, 42 USC 1751 to 1769j.

(c) The pupil has applied to the provider of the college
entrance examination component for a scholarship or fee waiver to cover the
cost of the retake and that application has been denied.

(d) After taking the complete Michigan merit examination, the
pupil has not already received a free retake of the college entrance
examination component paid for either by this state or through a scholarship or
fee waiver by the provider.

(8) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure
that the length of the Michigan merit examination and the combined total time
necessary to administer all of the components of the Michigan merit examination
are the shortest possible that will still maintain the degree of reliability
and validity of the Michigan merit examination results determined necessary by
the superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent of public
instruction shall ensure that the maximum total combined length of time that
schools are required to set aside for pupils to answer all test questions on
the Michigan merit examination does not exceed 8 hours if the superintendent of
public instruction determines that sufficient alignment to applicable Michigan
merit curriculum content standards can be achieved within that time limit.

(9) A school district or public school academy shall provide
accommodations to a pupil with disabilities for the Michigan merit examination,
as provided under section 504 of title V of the rehabilitation act of 1973, 29
USC 794; part A of subchapter II of the Americans with disabilities act of
1990, 42 USC 12131 to 12134; the individuals with disabilities education act
amendments of 1997, Public Law 105-17; and the implementing regulations for
those statutes. The provider or providers of the Michigan merit examination and
the superintendent of public instruction shall mutually agree on the
accommodations to be provided under this subsection.

(10) To the greatest extent possible, the Michigan merit
examination shall be based on grade level content expectations or course
content expectations, as appropriate. Not later than July 1, 2008, the
department shall identify specific grade level content expectations to be
taught before and after the middle of grade 11, so that teachers will know what
content will be covered within the Michigan merit examination.

(11) A child who is a student in a nonpublic school or home
school may take the Michigan merit examination under this section. To take the
Michigan merit examination, a child who is a student in a home school shall
contact the school district in which the child resides, and that school
district shall administer the Michigan merit examination, or the child may take
the Michigan merit examination at a nonpublic school if allowed by the
nonpublic school. Upon request from a nonpublic school, the superintendent of
public instruction shall direct the provider or providers to supply the
Michigan merit examination to the nonpublic school and the nonpublic school may
administer the Michigan merit examination. If a school district administers the
Michigan merit examination under this subsection to a child who is not enrolled
in the school district, the scores for that child are not considered for any
purpose to be scores of a pupil of the school district.

(12) In contracting under subsection (2), the department of
technology, management, and budget shall consider a contractor that provides
electronically-scored essays with the ability to score constructed response
feedback in multiple languages and provide ongoing instruction and feedback.

(13) The purpose of the Michigan merit examination is to
assess pupil performance in mathematics, science, social studies, and English
language arts for the purpose of improving academic achievement and
establishing a statewide standard of competency. The assessment under this
section provides a common measure of data that will contribute to the
improvement of Michigan schools’ curriculum and instruction by encouraging
alignment with Michigan’s curriculum framework standards and promotes pupil
participation in higher level mathematics, science, social studies, and English
language arts courses. These standards are based on the expectations of what
pupils should learn through high school and are aligned with national
standards.

(14) In addition to the other requirements of this section
and the requirements of 1970 PA 38, MCL 388.1081 to 388.1086, the
superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan merit
examination social studies component and the M-STEP and any successor state
assessment for social studies, as appropriate, include questions related to the
learning objectives in the state board recommended model core academic
curriculum standards concerning genocide, including, but not limited to, the
Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide.

(15) As used in this section:

(a) “Armenian Genocide”, “genocide”, and “Holocaust” mean
those terms as defined in section 1168.

(b) “English language arts” means reading and writing.

(c) “Social studies” means United States history, world
history, world geography, economics, and American government.

Secretary of the Senate

Clerk of the House of
Representatives

Approved___________________________________________

____________________________________________________

Governor