INDIANAPOLIS — Amid statewide concerns from parents and teachers over yet another possible delay on the release of ISTEP scores, members of the Indiana State Board of Education traveled across Indiana to defend the delay.
The board decided during last week's regular meeting to hold off on approving pass-fail scores when they discovered a comparability study between the paper and online versions of the test had not been done. Fearing the paper test was easier, board members were hesitant to vote for one cut score when two may have been needed.
On Monday, board vice-chairwoman Sarah O'Brien doubled down on that decision with stops in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Evansville. O'Brien said she wanted to send a clear message to teachers and parents about why there was a delay on approving the pass-fail scores.
O'Brien, flanked by fellow board members Vince Bertram and Byron Ernest in Indianapolis, said the board felt they owed it to students, teachers and parents to get the test scores right.
O'Brien stopped in Evansville Monday afternoon, along with EVSC Vogel Elementary School teacher and board of education member B.J. Watts.
"I think it's more important to get it right rather than get it right now," Watts said about the tests. "I see the day in and day out of how hard students and teachers work. ... Our goal in delaying this is to make sure things are done correctly, right the first time. So we don't have to go back and revisit this. So students, parents and teachers realize this is reliable and equitable."
The board and the Indiana Department of Education have hired three national experts to put together a feasibility study. O'Brien said the experts have received the testing data, but the board still doesn't know when a report will be available.
If the comparability study is finished by the board's special meeting next week, there will be no delays, said Ernest. Whether that will happen is still up in the air.
The ISTEP scores, which factor into schools' A-F grades, are scheduled to be released some time in December. Teacher compensation is also tied to the scores.
"We know that across the state there is a distrust in the testing system at this point," O'Brien said. "And if we have the slightest doubt we are providing valid and accurate results, we've got to pause and make sure we are doing our due diligence to ensure that they are valid scores."
Bertram, former superintendent of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., said the board didn't have a choice but to delay the cut score vote.
"Had we approved the single cut score knowing the comparability study had not been done appropriately and timely, it would have been an injustice to all our students," he said.