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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 a cademies,
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
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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 s tate 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 des cribed 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 pu pils 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 a ssessment 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 sca ling 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 pup ils, 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.
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(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 com plete 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 Mic higan 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 stil l 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 ti me 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.
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(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