The spring 2015 ISTEP scores for grades three through eight were released last week, revealing that the new curriculum adopted for testing is more difficult than it was in years past. Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz also unveiled her plans for the 2016 legislative session, a slate that includes lawmaking aimed at cushioning the low scores.
Statewide, just over half of student passed both the English/Language Arts and Math portions. But Ritz said the scores are not comparable to previous years because of the updated standards.
Sixteen elementary and middle schools from Monroe County Community School Corporation were tested. At 13 schools, more than 50 percent of students passed; but none of the schools had passing percentages above 86 percent.
The MCCSC overall passage rate was down 14.8 percent from the 2013-14 year.
Binford Elementary School, just southeast of the IU campus, only saw a 2.6 percent drop in their scores overall, but Principal Lucy Fischman said the scores aren’t accurate.
“ISTEP scores are just one little piece and they came across slow,” Fischman said. “All the other assessments and class work we do doesn’t reflect that.”
Fischman said the school received updated ISTEP standards in July 2014 which she said were broader, deeper and more expansive than previous years.
The school had to adjust their curriculum to fit the more rigorous criteria. When it came time for testing, she said students were thrown by a new portion of the exam that tested technology skills.
“It included things like kids had to know how to drag and drop, select more than one answer, line up things on a chart,” Fischman said. “If a student is an 8-year-old in third grade, tripped up on the technology, we wouldn’t know what their reading ability was.”
The test scores are usually released to schools in June; however, Binford said she didn’t see scores until the first week of December last year.
“We couldn’t even use the scores to help with student placement or get a better idea of where they were,” Fischman said. “It was terrible.”
The test scores will not affect Binford teacher evaluations because their old contract ends this year. Future test scores could still affect evaluations.
Ritzs’ 2016 legislature also focuses on ousting ISTEP by making annual assessments more streamlined and student-centric and remedying the teacher shortage sweeping Indiana, but the emphasis is on ISTEP and its scores.
“First, we need to hold our schools harmless from the 2015 ISTEP as Indiana transitioned to new, more rigorous, college and career ready standards and a more rigorous assessment at the same time,” Ritz said in a statement. “Indiana’s schools, educators and communities simply cannot be blamed for mandated changes in standards and assessment.”
Currently, two bills are in the Senate that will deal with the blows schools are taking.
Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, introduced Bill 200, which says the Indiana State Board of Education will not give schools a lower A-F grade than they received during the 2013-14 school year.
The second, Bill 4, proposed by Sen. Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, will ensure that grant money based on test scores will not be lower, nor will the performance grades.
The Indiana State Board of Education will meet Jan. 26 to discuss the school accountability grades legislation.
