ISTEP exam set to remain Indiana high school graduation hurdle for two more years

Jennifer McCormick, the Republican state superintendent of public instruction, said she plans to recommend the Indiana State Board of Education authorize administering the ISTEP exam during that period, rather than reverting back to the Algebra I and English 10 end-of-course assessments, called ECA, used as a graduation requirement prior to the 2016-17 school year.

"I have a real problem with going back to an ECA, because we would have to spend millions of dollars to develop an ECA that we would use for one or two years," McCormick said. "I just think that's not efficient and it's very confusing to the field."

At the same, McCormick acknowledged that the ISTEP exam — which has been plagued by technical glitches and scoring issues — is not particularly well-liked among educators or students.

That's one reason why it's being replaced next spring for students in grades three through eight with the new ILEARN test.

Nevertheless, McCormick said ISTEP works best as a short-term fix in this situation. It also will allow sophomores to skip the test in spring 2021 and take either the SAT or ACT as juniors in spring 2022, assuming the federal government approves the change, she said.

"If we're going to do it, let's make that transition smooth, and let's do it right," McCormick said.

The delay in switching to a national college entrance exam is intended to match the transition to graduation pathways that, beginning with the class of 2023, will require students to demonstrate both work-ready skills and post-secondary education preparedness — in addition to completing a traditional academic program — to earn their high school diplomas.

The post-secondary component can be satisfied by achieving a to-be-determined score on either the SAT, ACT or military-readiness exam.

However, high school students still may have to take a separate science exam following the switch if the State Board of Education determines the ACT or SAT science components do not satisfy federal science testing requirements.