Michigan Assessment Literacy Facilitators Association

What is the MALFA?

The Michigan Assessment Literacy Facilitators Association (MALFA) is a professional community that promotes collaboration among those charged with helping educators develop, select, and use high-quality assessment, as well as use the results from these assessments to improve instruction and learning. The community invites participation by administrators (or other professionals) who serve local districts, intermediate school districts (ISD), and regional education service agencies (RESA)s, as well as charter school authorizers and operators. MALFA supports a network of individuals who are responsible for managing assessment programs and facilitating understanding about the purpose, uses, benefits, and limitations of assessment and assessment data.

The community’s goals are to:

• Share existing resources to assist members in their work, whether developed by the MAC, by members, or other organizations
• Identify common needs to guide additional resource development and/or support
• Make these new resources and strategies available to one another

Overview of the Michigan Assessment Literacy Facilitators Association

Purpose – The Michigan Assessment Consortium (MAC) seeks to expand its assessment literacy and learning efforts by creating and supporting a network of LEA/ISD/RESA specialists, called the Michigan Assessment Literacy Facilitators Association (MALFA), who are or could be tasked with improving the understanding of educators and others about assessment. The MAC aims for the group to be a for-member/by-member network, permitting members to exchange questions, ideas, and solutions to the assessment literacy-related challenges of our schools.

Target Audience/Members – Selected LEAs (Middle Cities, Detroit, and other large districts with designated assessment specialists), ISDs, RESAs, and charter school authorizers and operators. The goal is to support a network of individuals who have the responsibility for managing assessment programs and assisting educators and others to understand the purpose, uses, benefits, and limitations of assessments.

Operation – The MAC intends for this group to meet periodically, either in conjunction with other conferences (such as the Michigan Education Research Association or the Michigan School Testing Conference), or via stand-alone virtual or in-person meetings. It is anticipated that there will be a total of 2-4 in-person and/or virtual meetings per year.