Dean Moje speaks with the Detroit News about interpreting the results of the 2025 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) for the English language arts
Moje says results of the test show that there are both improvements to celebrate as well as areas of concern.
According to results from the 2025 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) for the English language arts, fewer third and fourth graders are testing proficient in reading, reports the Detroit News. As state politicians, education experts, and school districts debate how best to address reform to teaching literacy, U-M Marsal Family School of Education Dean Elizabeth Birr Moje says nuance is called for when interpreting this data.
"My initial reaction (to the statewide scores) was actually happiness, because there's a lot of improvement, especially at the upper grades," Moje tells the News. "We should be celebrating those improvements, but there are still areas of concern at grades three and four. ... I don't think scores have tanked, as some have said. I don't think it's a cause for panic at this point."
Moje points out that the M-STEP doesn't show where exactly a student's reading weakness is—whether that's in phonics, understanding what they're reading word-by-word, or comprehending the meaning of a text. Because the M-STEP is largely focused on reading comprehension, even students who are reading at grade level might not be marked as proficient, she says.
"If we really want to see scores ratchet up, we need to focus on comprehension. We need to be focusing on the complexity of reading as an act, we need to be focusing on how one reads for meaning, and especially across longer and longer passages."
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