One test doesn't define a student. It doesn't gauge the effectiveness of a teacher or the success of a student. Yet the state of Indiana allowed it to do just that in the nearly three decades it administered the ISTEP to Hoosier students.
ISTEP is a standardized test that every third- to eighth-grade and 10th-grade student in Indiana takes annually. Statewide testing is required by federal law, and in Indiana, school A-F grades as well as teacher pay are tied to ISTEP scores.
But all of that comes to an end July 1, 2017. Last week, flanked by students, Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill eliminating ISTEP.
“We’re going to have accountability in our testing, but we’re going to find a better way,” said Pence, as reported in an Associated Press story. “We’re going to look to our teachers and we’re going to look to our administrators ... and we’re going to ask ‘How can we do a better job?’”
After years of tinkering with the state’s education policy, including withdrawing from the national Common Core State Standards, the decisions by the GOP-majority Legislature opted to do away with high-stakes testing. The bill came about during the General Assembly session this year after 2015 ISTEP scores plummeted about 20 percent when compared to the previous year due in part to a hastily rolled out test that was based on Indiana-specific standards for math and science instead of the Common Core.
This year, Hoosier students must take one more multiple choice section of the ISTEP when the testing window opens up again April 18. Although the legislation gives the state more than a year to come up with a replacement test, many are left to wonder, "What's next?"
In addition to ending the ISTEP program on July 1, 2017, the law also includes the development of a panel to review ISTEP and make a recommendation for its replacement. The committee to come up with a new test for Indiana’s schools will include Pence and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, along with appointees from the Indiana Senate and House leadership.
Gary Conner, superintendent of North Lawrence Community Schools, hopes the panel includes input from teachers in order to create a "value-guided plan" that blends curriculum with an assessment that measures the individual growth of students.
"As our legislators move forward to develop a new assessment platform, I hope they develop effective and meaningful assessment and accountability standards," Conner said. "It has been stated that failing to plan is planning to fail. An effective plan must begin by keeping the end in mind. To begin, you must know what you are wanting to achieve. The framework of the plan must provide a pathway that individuals can follow in order to successfully achieve a result. Otherwise, accountability is flawed. I believe it is important to determine the desired outcomes before any attempt is made to create an assessment tool. They must determine the essential skills required before they can determine how to assess the skills. The neutrality required to ensure rigor and achievement must remain autonomous from personal perspective ... . I would encourage the assessment tool to be as simple as possible to maximize effectiveness."
Recognizing the challenge ahead in creating a new test to replace ISTEP, Mitchell Community Schools Superintendent Steve Phillips says the state must act without bias to repair the loss of credibility ISTEP created over the past several years.
"Creating a different standardized test that is fair and reliable for the purpose of evaluating teachers/schools will be very challenging," he said. "There are simply too many outside variables that affect the ability of a student to learn. Any similar process can also be manipulated.
"If a new assessment process is implemented, I would hope it will focus more on what is educationally best for students and individual student growth and less on evaluation and politics."
"I firmly believe teachers will always be the best assessors of instruction," Conner said.
After 19 years in the North Lawrence system, fifth-grade teacher Marta Vice doesn't view her career path as a job, instead she sees it as a passion. What she does see, however, is the need for a new test that is shorter, more precise and measures students' individual achievement.
"(One) aspect that I hope would be addressed would be that of accommodations for children with learning disabilities," said Vice who has a background in special education. "Although some of these children have some allowances, many are expected to pass the same test as their classmates. A student reading at a third-grade level may be expected to take a timed test designed for fifth-grade level skills and may know the skills, but may need more time to read questions.
"The test has challenged me, as a teacher, to rethink some of my teaching approaches, which is a good thing, but it also breaks my heart to see kids struggling on a test because of the pressure they put on themselves to pass one test."
ISTEP, which is administered each spring, could've been designed to better help teachers by providing an assessment of students' strengths and weaknesses. Instead, as it stands, test results aren't received until almost a year after the children have left a teacher's classroom and additional instruction has commenced.
"As a teacher, I use assessments as a teaching tool, but with test results not given to me until late in the year, I depend on other leveled testing available through our curriculum to address students' needs and address standards," Vice said. "The ISTEP has become a pass-or-fail test and offers no assistance in helping teachers design effective curriculum.
"I would like to have a test that would serve as, not only a 'how the student ranks among students in the district and state,' but also a tool with information that I, as a teacher, can hit the ground running with on the first day of school."
Although when it comes to ISTEP many people commonly believe teachers are "teaching to the test," Vice said it's important to note ISTEP doesn't define teachers, students or the school systems.
"Teaching has always been my passion," she said. "I try to differentiate my instruction to reach all kids. I feel the Indiana state standards have helped give teachers an outline of what students at different grade levels should accomplish. We all have goals and objectives when planning lessons anyway. The standards just give us more continuity and make us more selective in our instruction.
"Measuring (students') progress is more important for students because all students learn at different rates. We differentiate instruction to meet the many learning needs of our students, but we take one snapshot of a student, based on a 'standardized' assessment to determine teacher, school, district and state effectiveness. This in and of itself is fundamentally wrong and will never paint a true picture of the successes we have in our schools today in the state of Indiana."