With standardized testing scores lower than usual, the four Dubois County school superintendents united to send a letter to students’ parents and guardians Monday calling for action.
“It’s time for a change,” the letter reads. “We encourage students, educators and community members to let their voices be heard.”
Part of the reason superintendents Tracy Lorey, Mike Eineman, Rick Allen and Bill Hochgesang wrote the letter was to show the community how the ISTEP testing process and the bundle of problems with this year’s test affect local communities.
“Parents need to be aware of it, and they need to be vocal about it,” Rick Allen, who leads Southeast Dubois schools, said Tuesday afternoon. “Indianapolis seems to put their head in the sand and not realize how this affects people.”
The letter comes after preliminary ISTEP test results were released to parents and guardians for a rescore. The initial results show that the pass/fail rates for schools have fallen, a trend seen both locally and throughout the state. School accountability ratings and teacher performance grants will fall right along with the scores.
In the letter, the superintendents claim the lower scores are caused by policy mistakes in Indianapolis, citing a list of problems that begin with the adoption of new state education standards, dubbed College and Career Readiness Standards, in July of 2014, one month before the start of school.
The new standards led to a need for a new ISTEP test, which was given in spring 2015, six months after the new standards were adopted. The new test came with a laundry list of its own problems.
The superintendents’ letter lists a lengthy exam, different forms administered within districts and across the state and issues with the online version as a few of the problems. Some of the issues, such as the different forms and the problems with the online version, have taken months to solve, with state officials developing solutions in recent weeks. Educators expect to receive the scores about Dec. 22, six months later than usual.
“I think our letter was mostly a show that we have no faith in the system,” said Hochgesang, superintendent of Northeast Dubois schools.
The tardiness of this year’s scores have created hurdles for other systems as well. The evaluation plan, for example, has been at a standstill. Without ISTEP scores, administrators cannot determine which teachers are rated effective or highly effective, cannot dole out raises and cannot distribute performance grant funds, which state law requires be done by the end of January. However, the state doesn’t award performance grant awards until teacher evaluations are completed, and teacher evaluations cannot be completed without the final ISTEP scores.
Student remediation, some aspects of school funding, school accountability grades and raises all depend on ISTEP scores.
“One high-stakes test is not a measure of our outstanding communities and schools,” the letter reads.
One concern is the effect lower test scores will have on accountability grades and the communities.
At the Greater Jasper School Board meeting Monday, Superintendent Tracy Lorey pointed out that people often look at schools when deciding whether to move to an area, so low accountability grades could hurt economic development in Dubois County. Hochgesang agreed Tuesday.
“We all worry about is that the quality of the schools is a reflection of the community,” Hochgesang said. “To have that (poorer) letter grade hanging over you just reflects poorly on the community, and we don’t want that.”
Hochgesang expects accountability grades for local schools, which have typically been As and Bs, to drop this year.
“Based on the scores, I wouldn’t see how they couldn’t,” he said.
Allen pointed out, though, that Dubois County remains strong in terms of education.
“We know locally what’s happening, and that’s another reason we wrote the letter,” Allen said.
“They’re hearing us in Indy,” Allen said. “They’re going to do something. It just won’t be until January.”