In a terse letter to Gov. Mike Pence this week, MCCSC Superintendent Judy DeMuth calls ISTEP 2015 a “debacle” and asks the governor to admit that the integrity of the test has crumbled to the point that it has no standing as a measure of student knowledge.
“The 2015 ISTEP lacks any credibility to grade our students, their learning growth, our staff, and/or our schools,” DeMuth wrote in a three-paragraph letter, dated Feb. 23, outlining the harm the test’s results could cause. “Please ensure this does not happen by admitting this catastrophe and moving on.”
Some Indiana parents around the state, frustrated by the length of the test, computer breakdowns and difficult-to-define standards, are pulling their children out of the testing pool. Despite legislation that cut the elementary school testing time from 12 to nine hours, thick controversy remains.
West Lafayette Community School Corp. Superintendent Rocky Killion stepped beyond writing a letter when he suggested that parents keep their kids at home during the week of testing and establish a home-based learning program.
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