This time it was the test that failed, not the students or schools.

The Indiana Department of Education released the latest ISTEP standardized testing data for school across Indiana. The results were dismal, even for many schools that have been consistently high achievers in ISTEP scoring, because the tests themselves and the administration of the tests were deeply flawed.

If the Indiana Department of Education wanted to create a scenario in which standardized testing and accountably of schools in Indiana to our families and children were destroyed, it could hardly have devised a better method.

Partisan squabbles between Glenda Ritz, the Democrat who is superintendent of public instruction, and the Republican governor and General Assembly created an atmosphere that led to poor performance in the most important area charged to state government – educating the state’s children.

Within the past month, four of five Grant County public school superintendents signed a letter to the editor we think lays out a timeline of how Indiana officials guided the demise of accountably in our schools.

  • In the summer of 2010, Indiana approved the Common Core Standards and schools across the State began to develop curriculum and identify instructional resources to support the teaching of those standards.
  • In 2013 and early 2014, after allowing educators three years to transition to the new set of standards, Indiana paused and then formally withdrew from the Common Core State Standards.
  • In April 2014, the Indiana State Board of Education formally approved the Indiana College and Career Ready Standards leaving school districts a very short period of time to develop new curriculum and identify resources prior to the 2014-2015 school year.
  • In February 2015 the newly developed ISTEP+ test was approved and educators soon learned it would take 20 hours for students to complete. After public outcry, State officials quickly moved to cut the tests down to 12 hours.
  • During the past summer, a committee of educators and IDOE staff members reviewed student work to determine passing scores for the new test. The work was not completed until October and it was learned that the students who took the test by paper/pencil were given an easier assessment than the online test. To accommodate for this factor, all students who took online tests will receive bonus points. Many question how such a process could be valid.

These were not the only glitches and examples of inexplicable bad judgment that means schools and students could not prepare for what was trust on them by a system that cannot function well with partisanship rather than professionalism in the hearts of the people we trust to educate our children.

If our aim is to hold our schools accountable then we as parents and taxpayers must hold the people at the state level responsible for this mess accountable. We will have our chance in 2016.
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