ISTEP+ failing, needs major remediation: Vigo County School Corp. leaders

In early December, the Vigo County School Corp. received a preliminary “report card” that officials later learned included three-year-old testing data for math. For example, in the Dec. 1 report, current seventh-graders were listed with their fourth-grade test results for math.

The error was corrected in an updated state report one week later — but that didn’t inspire confidence in the test, scoring or overall results.

That “report card” is used to grade schools and teachers.

“Old testing data was used for current students,” said Superintendent Danny Tanoos.

Earlier this week, district officials learned about a computer glitch that could have incorrectly scored thousands of ISTEP+ tests statewide, Tanoos said, and he believes local students likely were affected.

These are just the latest problems with the much-criticized test. Earlier this week, State Rep. Robert Behning (R-Indianapolis) said he will prepare a bill calling for a one-year suspension of ISTEP+ as part of teacher evaluations. He calls it a “transition-year adjustment.”

Tanoos doesn’t believe that goes far enough. “Let’s throw away the test” for this year and use last year’s scores and grades, he said in an interview this week. “Let’s get a committee together that knows what is going on and come up with something that will benefit our kids, rather than benefit a testing company like CTB [McGraw-Hill], which has been getting it wrong for a long time.”

In spring 2016, the state will begin using a new testing company, Pearson.

Tanoos would like to see a bipartisan committee formed, including legislators and practitioners in the field, with representation from the governor and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz.

He’d like to “take away the political aspect of testing and focus on what’s best for students. Let’s come up with something that will allow us to meet federal mandates, but not over-test kids,” Tanoos said.

He criticized legislators such as Behning who are trying to “fix” problems now when educators have long been telling them about the flaws in the current testing system. The test is too long; the state has moved to mandate online testing, but some districts don’t have enough computers — or the funding — to comply; and there have been technical problems when students take the tests online.

The VCSC superintendent believes it comes down to politics. “I think they are trying to fulfill this goal of theirs of making public education look bad,” he said. The only reason political leaders are seeking change now is to get re-elected, he suggested.

Other district officials directly involved with testing also criticized the 2015 test.

ISTEP+ is supposed to provide helpful information about how students performed in language arts and math, said Karen Goeller, VCSC deputy superintendent. “But this particular test (spring 2015) has been very, very disappointing in terms of the usefulness of the results it is going to provide and the reliability and validity of this test.”

For one thing, the test is being returned too late, she said. Testing began last March, and final results won’t be available until next month. “Those results will not be back in enough time to modify any kind of instruction to help children improve prior to this next test,” which starts Feb. 29, she said.

That is “very frustrating for classroom educators who have spent so much time giving the test and preparing for it,” she said. The upcoming spring test will be based on the same high standards.

Normally, schools receive ISTEP+ results by the end of the year in time for students to take home paper copies by summer break.

Goeller also referred to an article revealing grading mistakes on ISTEP+ related to a computer malfunction. “We have kids out there with incorrect test scores and we don’t know who they are,” she said.