Local teachers, parents and administrators are incensed about the increased time students will spend taking the new ISTEP-Plus practice test and exam, taking time away from classroom instruction.
Students in grades three through eight take ISTEP-Plus, and the test has been revised to comply with new Indiana state standards. Just as it was last year, there will be two ISTEP testing windows — one in March for applied skills (math word problems, writing) and one in April for multiple choice/computerized testing.
Last year, total test practice time was one hour for both sessions. This year, the practice test time has grown to six hours for both sessions. Last year, the total ISTEP testing time for both sessions was six hours.
But this year, students, including third- and fourth-graders, will spend about 12 hours taking the actual ISTEP-Plus test. Special education students who automatically get more time will need even longer.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence commented on his Facebook page late last week, saying, "As a governor and as a parent, I was very troubled to learn that the length of the new ISTEP-Plus test will more than double this year. While I applaud the State Board of Education's decision to allow schools to spread out the testing across more days, Hoosier families can be assured that our administration will support efforts to shorten this year’s test while still maintaining accountability."
Sarah O'Brien, an elementary school teacher in Avon who serves on SBOE, seemed to be taken by surprise at Wednesday's SBOE meeting in Indianapolis by the increase in the testing time. She said she has been "overwhelmed" by calls from teachers and administrators about the state's new testing times, which were recently released to school administrators.
The state board has no authority over the length or format of the ISTEP-Plus test; that is the responsibility of Indiana State Department of Education. However, the state board approves the windows when the tests can be given. On Feb. 4, the board voted to expand the test window, hoping to reduce the amount of time per day students have to take the longer test.
IDOE blames feds
IDOE spokesman Daniel Altman blamed the federal government. "The length of the ISTEP-Plus has increased this year due to federal requirements as a result of No Child Left Behind," he said.
"As you know, last year, Indiana adopted its own academic standards. The federal government is requiring that our ISTEP-Plus be aligned to those new standards right away, rather than piloting them for a year. Because of this requirement, the length of the ISTEP-Plus has increased for this year, although we expect it to go down the next."
Nearly 60 educators from across the state attended the Wednesday SBOE meeting week to complain about the new, longer testing time-frame, which they said is taking students away from classroom learning.
Merrillville public schools interim Superintendent Tony Lux said, "Someone pointed out that it only takes an eight-hour bar exam to test law students after three years of law school, and the ACT and SAT exams are four hours. But Indiana needs over 20 hours of testing time to assess all the standards required of third-graders."
The Indiana Bar Exam is a two-day exam that lasts a total of 13 hours over both days. Most states' bar exams are two days.
Lux called that amount of time used for testing a "travesty" for youngsters and said the "pressures and the fatigue" from test-taking will be factors in student performance. He said the multiple choice ISTEP-Plus session will be done solely on computers, something that could strain the system.
"Another reason for the length of the ISTEP testing is that there are pilot-test items included in preparation for the new state ISTEP exams for 2016," Lux said.
"The problem is that there are so many of them that won’t count for this year’s ISTEP results and there is no way for students to know which of the items are pilot-test items. As a result, students could spend more time on test items that don’t even count and less time on test items that do count, and not finishing some of them."
Locals decry lack of say
Valparaiso Superintendent Ric Frataccia said he doesn't understand why it is so difficult for officials in Indianapolis to contact local educators for their views.
"We'll be ready for the test, that's not the issue," he said.
"The issue is how much time is being devoted to test-taking. They should be designing practice tests that don't take five or six hours and assessments that don't take another 13 or 14 hours. It has gotten out of control. I have expressed my feelings to legislators and to IDOE. They need a system where they run these ideas through an advisory committee who can tell them the advantages and disadvantages of their ideas."
Munster Teachers Association President Ryan Ridgley said the extra time is just the tip of the iceberg and some educators and parents are concerned the constant testing is "causing kids to not enjoy school." He said they also are talking about the added costs of constantly reforming the tests.
Testing cost to double?
"From the testimony at the Statehouse Wednesday, there was a projection of $71 million for the new test, while we are only spending $35 million now," Ridgley said.
"Fiscally, that doesn't make sense. I am sure the extra $36 million could be used for many more productive things besides testing students. With that, add to the fact that the online portion of the test has been plagued with problems for the last two years, ISTEP has become a joke. That joke, however, is that the state Legislature wants to link ISTEP results to teacher evaluations at 50 percent of the evaluation. So now we have to spend more time to get students prepared for a test that is going to take more instruction time out of our already limited time we have with students.
"Because of the testing schedule, I will lose about four class periods, give or take, that could be better used on enrichment or remediation. That doesn't include going over how to input answers in the new online interface or ... preparing students to take the test."
Union Township Assistant Superintendent Mike Stephens sent a letter to parents telling them to help prepare their youngsters for the test by making sure they have the proper amount of rest and nutrition, and "write your legislators if you have concerns about the amount of time your youngster will be spending in testing this spring."