Indiana school superintendents push for consistent, fair ISTEP replacement

Indiana District 7 superintendents gathered Wednesday afternoon at the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. administration building to push the state to identify a replacement for the controversial ISTEP student test.

“The state assessment committee cannot sit and do inaction,” Humbaugh said. “It is not fair to our students, nor our parents, nor our staff members. … We’re no further ahead and all of us anticipated this commission was really going to get something done.”

Southwestern Indiana superintendents are frustrated the panel chaired by a Gov. Mike Pence appointee has yet to recommend a new testing system.

Months of meetings of the ISTEP panel have been marked by slow progress. Top panel members have said the state will likely delay any changes until after spring 2018. That would mean missing the original deadline for the ISTEP replacement to be in place by the 2017-18 school year.

Local superintendents encourage educators, students, parents and the community to "immediately" talk with the Indiana Assessment Committee to recommend tests that are timely, meaningful, aligned to standards and appropriate for all students; stress the need for politics to exit the classroom; and urge elected officials to reduce the amount of money spent on assessments.

EVSC Superintendent David Smith said while looking at changes in academic standards and testing over the last six years, one thing remains constant: students and teachers have been left out of the conversation.

"Put students first," Smith said. "Get politics out of the equation, and do what's right for kids. If we want to continue to change those things that teachers are supposed to do, then they have to understand that comes at a price – students."

A letter signed by 24 District 7 superintendents, reads, in part: "Failure to act and maintaining status quo of this system is not an option. Let student learning and not bureaucracy be the focus of change."

Superintendents in Central and Northern Indiana told IndyStar their regions are planning similar measures ahead of the panel’s next meeting in November.

Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon Superintendent Tom Kopatich said no one is asking to eliminate accountability, but to provide consistency for teachers and students.

“Educators have always wanted accountability for teachers, administrators and students,” Kopatich said. “But we want it consistently and fairly in a manner that we can get information back and use it to help student learning in the future.”

Inconsistency in expectations and a moving target have created a sense of instability in the classroom, said Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools Superintendent Tracy Lorey.

"We have lost sight of the purpose of assessments," Lorey said. "Right now we use a one-shot, high-stakes assessment to determine the success of not only student progress, but the success of teachers and schools. Heaven forbid anyone have a bad day."

Robert Behning (R-Indianapolis), the House’s education policy leader, has said the easiest proposal to pass through the Republican-controlled General Assembly would require Indiana to create a new test.

He said the group is being deliberative in its work and looking for ways to “push the envelope.”

“I’m kind of like – what’s the rush?” he said. “We’ve got this window of time. Do you think that six months is too long a time to take studying where we should take our next step?”

As for Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, she’s made a proposal, but argues she’s been barred from presenting it at a panel meeting.

Ritz wants to reduce testing time by eight hours by eliminating a reading test for third-graders, a remediation test taken by some high school students and social studies testing. The proposal also would reduce the number of open-ended questions as compared to the current ISTEP.

Ritz also envisions moving toward a test that students in grades 3-8 would take three times a year – in fall, winter and spring. She also wants the test to be computer adaptive, a method of testing where questions get harder or easier based on a student’s answer.

Opponents of adaptive testing worry that schools don’t have the technology to successfully give that type of exam.

The panel is scheduled to meet next on Nov. 15. The group was created after lawmakers repealed the ISTEP during the past legislative session, which is slated to take effect this summer.