By J.T. Coopman, Ed.D.
Executive Director Of The Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents

The issues connected to ISTEP Plus are well known by educators, parents and legislators throughout Indiana. Recent news about yet another technical glitch only increases concern over its validity.

It’s time for a change. We, the members of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents stand with other state officials and legislators who are calling for a new testing system for Hoosier children. Among several concerns we have with current ISTEP Plus testing include:

• Students not being able to complete the test online because of connectivity issues with the vendor.
• Extraordinary delay between the time the test was given and when the results were delivered.
• The apparent disconnect between online versions of the test and the paper/pencil versions.
• Documented errors in the scoring of the student tests, which have been masked by the testing vendor.
• The incomprehensible length of the entire testing program.

Compounding this travesty, individual schools, public school districts, teachers, and principals are evaluated based on these questionable results. Indiana students, their parents, taxpayers and public school employees deserve better.

Individual schools and school districts are “graded” based on the results of ISTEP Plus testing. For example, in 2014, 44.2 percent of the schools in 25 districts received grades of “A.” A preliminary analysis of testing results in 2015, indicate the percentage of schools receiving an “A” would drop to 14.5 percent. Moreover, 6.2 percent of the schools in the metro Indianapolis area received a “D” or “F” in 2014, and that would increase to 37.3 percent in 2015. What business would be interested in moving their operations to Indiana when so many more schools are considered “failing?” Indiana deserves a better public measurement of its ability to education millions of students each year.

Indiana school superintendents do not believe one test should be used to measure student learning or the quality of teaching in Indiana public schools. Nor should one test be used to gauge a community based on a flawed metric used to “grade” it. Superintendents across the state have offered suggestions of a broader accountability model that measures progress over time. Indiana’s current model of constantly changing performance targets leaves little hope for longitudinal reflection and no long-term guidance for continuing academic improvement.

Ironically, the ISTEP Plus testing fiasco, with its unreliable results, were reported at the same time that the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the “nation’s report card,” were released. NAEP results, which have been reported since 1992, reveal that for 2015, Indiana’s public school students are achieving ever higher levels of academic success and proficiency. This fact makes the results of this year’s ISTEP Plus all the more troubling.

Last week, the U. S. Congress passed new legislation which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, formerly known as the No Child Left Behind Act. NCLB allowed the federal government to intervene and provide oversight for education in all states. The reauthorization legislation, now called the Every Student Succeeds Act, returns education oversight to the states and precludes many of the issues that have caused so much heartache and confusion for public education and educators for the last 15 years. We have a chance to get it right for Indiana children by allowing local parents, schools and educators to continue educating children to their fullest capabilities.

IAPSS stands ready to assist the Indiana General Assembly, the state board of education, and the Indiana Department of Education in making changes that hold schools accountable while encouraging growth in achievement and innovation in instructional strategies.  We call on the decision-making bodies in state government to acknowledge the serious shortcomings in the present system and to make immediate changes to reduce the financial burden of this system on the state’s taxpayers and the time burden on the state’s teachers and students. To do anything less is a disservice to the people of Indiana.

It’s time for a better way for Indiana’s children and the public schools who educate them.