Indiana lawmakers OK plans to minimize effect of poor ISTEP results

Under Senate Bill 200, schools would be assigned their 2013-14 performance rating for 2014-15, unless the school earned a higher grade last year. No school would see its grade decline.

House Bill 1003 similarly provides "hold harmless" protections for teachers, whose annual performance rating and pay are determined in large part by student ISTEP scores.

Student performance on the annual standardized test for grades 3-8 dropped significantly last year due to a rewrite of the state's academic standards and creation of a new test aligned to the more rigorous educational expectations.

Administration of the ISTEP test also was plagued by last-minute changes, technology problems and scoring issues at CTB/McGraw-Hill, the state's test vendor.

"You couldn't ask for a worse disaster in terms of test administration," said state Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, sponsor of House Bill 1003.

He indicated the state may still demand an ISTEP re-score, or hire a third-party test reviewer, to guarantee last year's ISTEP results are valid as a baseline to measure student growth in future years.

With both hold harmless proposals easily winning committee approval, leaders of the Republican-controlled House and Senate said they plan to hold full chamber votes next week with an eye toward getting the measures to the governor by the end of the month.

Republican Gov. Mike Pence has included an ISTEP hold harmless policy on his 2016 legislative agenda and can be expected to sign the measures into law. Both are retroactive to July 1, 2015.

State Rep. Bill Fine, R-Munster, a member of the House Education Committee, said he is pleased to see lawmakers of both political parties, along with the Democratic-led Indiana Department of Education, working toward a common goal.

"There's near-unanimous opinion that something had to be done given the debacle with the ISTEP last year," Fine said. "I think this is the fix everybody is looking for."