Scores from this spring's ISTEP test have been released and local school officials aren't terribly excited or even much concerned about how their students scored.
As the highly-criticized test is phased out (a new assessment state officials are calling ILEARN will take effect in 2019) local public school superintendents have pretty much said good riddance to it.
“We just don't worry about it anymore,” said South Knox superintendent Tim Grove. “We're going to do what we need to do, which is educate kids. And when [state officials] stop moving the target, then we'll start paying attention again.
“But when you're always averting your gaze, you tend to trip over the things right in front of you.”
Lawmakers approved the framework for the new ILEARN assessment this spring, a move that's been years in the making. Indiana abandoned the Common Core Standards in 2014, resulting in multiple rounds of new standards, new tests and, as a result, frustrated teachers, administrators and particularly parents.
And after years of falling test scores, these latest numbers are more of the same. In fact, fewer than half of all Hoosier students received passing scores on both the language arts and math portions.
Locally, South Knox performed the best, with 65.3 percent of students there passing language arts while 49.2 percent passed math.
Individual building scores, however, are a tad lower, a fact that left Grove scratching his head. At South Knox Elementary School, 58.2 percent of students passed both portions, while at the middle high school nearly 70 percent passed.
“It's [Department of Education] math, I guess,” he said with a chuckle. “I don't know the answer as to why. Something, logically, doesn't make sense there, but I just don't put a whole lot of stock into worrying about it.”
A similar situation unfolded at North Knox School Corp.
Just over 42 percent percent of students at the Intermediate School passed both portions of the test, while 46.5 percent did at the junior senior high school.
Corporation wide, however, numbers are higher, with 65.3 percent passing the English portion and 49.2 percent passing math.
“It's the same story,” said superintendent Darrel Bobe. “I have been, and continue to be, far more worried about where students are from year to year. That way, we can get a real feel for where we need to improve.
“Again, you have to remember, we're getting ready to change again, so I'm just not overly concerned about it.”
In the Vincennes Community School Corp., just over 58 percent of students passed the language arts portion while 52.8 percent passed math.
Most of the individual building scores, however, were significantly lower.
Benjamin Franklin Elementary School once again led the pack with 61 percent passing both sections of the test. At George Rogers Clark Middle School, that number was 43 percent.
The other three neighborhood elementary schools — James Whitcomb Riley, Tecumseh-Harrison and Francis Vigo — had combined language and math passing scores of 31 percent, 38.3 percent and 38.9 percent, respectively.
“I think, statewide, we've reached a stalemate,” said VCSC superintendent Greg Parsley. “We're not seeing any increases anywhere. It's like we've reached a state of complacency.”
Superintendents agree that as the test has lost its credibility among educators, they've shifted their attention back to where they believe it should be — on the individual student.
“We need to focus on individual growth, and ISTEP is just not doing that,” Parsley said. “We can only hope that ILEARN will do a better job.”
“We make our decisions at the building and classroom level,” Grove said. “We look at each kid and how they're doing. We do what's best for that individual student.
“Educators are realizing that they need to deal in the here and now,” he said. “And when they do that, they know they'll see those successes.”
Bobe said even he has learned to refocus his attention on curriculum once many thought lost forever to standardized testing, subjects such as art, music, athletic activities and even the development of social skills.
“Those are just as important to me now than how these kids perform on one test,” he said.
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