Indiana lawmakers clamor to overhaul student testing, school accountability

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, last week used the terms "disaster" and "fiasco" to describe the administration of the state's annual achievement test for students in third through eighth grades.

Numerous technical problems at the test vendor, CTB/McGraw-Hill, along with policy and scoring modifications recently adopted by the Republican-appointed Indiana State Board of Education, have postponed release of results from the May 2015 exam until at least mid-January.

"We have a test that teachers don't have back in their hands at the start of the next semester? It's just absolutely unthinkable that those results are so delayed," Bosma said. "It's clear we have to do something."

Bosma hopes changes in a federal education law approved this month may finally give Indiana flexibility to reform its testing and accountability systems independent of many past federal mandates.

However, he's not sure Hoosier policymakers can design a new testing and accountability program during the 10 weeks the Republican-controlled Legislature is in session, starting Jan. 5.

"Can we get that done in the short session? Probably not. Can we set the stage for it to occur in 2017? Probably so," Bosma said.

Senate Republicans last session proposed replacing the Indiana-only ISTEP exam with an off-the-shelf test used in other states to save money, reduce testing time and permit easier comparison with students elsewhere.

That idea did not advance through the legislative process for a variety of reasons, but state Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, said there will be another attempt next year.

"I think it's time to make a fundamental change," Hershman said. "It is vital for us to have some degree of measurement and accountability, but the pendulum has swung too far."

Bosma said if such a proposal makes it to the House he's ready to consider it. That's a change from last session when a Senate-approved testing reform measure was rewritten by House Republicans to focus instead on teacher labor relations.

"I don't know that that's the solution," Bosma cautioned. "But there is a solution that still measures Indiana's rigorous standards appropriately, but it's a supplement to an off-the-shelf test."

Pendulum may swing back?

The speaker, whose first job in state government was at the Indiana Department of Education, said he now regrets going along with Republican Gov. Mike Pence's idea to eliminate the Indiana Education Roundtable, a nonpartisan panel of state leaders in education, business and government, created in 1998, that helped devise innovative solutions to difficult education policy questions.

Pence disliked having to share the chairmanship of the Education Roundtable with Glenda Ritz, the Democratic state superintendent of public instruction, with whom he has clashed repeatedly over who controls state education policy.

Bosma said he wants a similar ad hoc committee established next year to get all education stakeholders working together toward a testing and accountability solution.

Pence has said he now supports testing and school accountability reform after previously insisting to federal education officials that Indiana's systems were fine. However, Pence has not proposed any specific changes.

House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, said it's long past time for Indiana to have an education system focused on learning instead of testing.

"We all understand that we need accountability. We understand most taxpayers expect to be able to gauge how their schools are doing," Pelath said. "But our priorities have been continually misaligned."

"I looked forward to going to school. My classmates looked forward to going to school. We learned new things every day. It wasn't just about drills, it wasn't just about preparing for a test; we were actually being exposed to the world and emerging as future citizens," he said.

"This testing has just sapped all the joy out of learning."

Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said the best thing for lawmakers to do is settle on educational standards and a test aligned to those standards and refrain from making changes to either or both every single year.

"This all has occurred because instead of listening to educators about what's the best way of testing our students and getting accountability, we allowed all the politicians to get involved," Lanane said.

In Indiana, student test results determine, in part, teacher pay and the A-F grade assigned to local schools.

Schools labeled "D" or "F" are subject to state takeover, and a poor grade can reduce nearby residential property values.