ISTEP nightmare: Unstable test scores upset schools, parents

“What has been reflected in these scores for most school districts throughout the state of Indiana is a drop of 16 percent on average in English language arts to 24 percent in math,” said Washington School Superintendent Dr. Dan Roach.

School officials point out that the results are preliminary, and while the state is saying the final scores may be available next month, those results are not likely to land by then.

“Parents have been provided the opportunity to request rescores on the test,” said Roach. “The timing is now questionable as to when we will see the final results.”

Students did not suddenly become 16 percent less able to read and handle the English language or become 24 percent less competent at math than they were the year before. Roach points out part of the confusion goes back to the change in standards in testing.

“It is being compared to a completely different test and different standards from the previous year,” he said. “That is confusing to the general public. The teachers know, based on past practices, what a child should know at that particular point in time at that particular grade level. It’s anyone’s guess if that is going to meet the criteria for the new standards because the cut scores are not stable.”

Educators complain that this round of ISTEP has been unstable from the beginning.

The state had problems establishing new standards. The curriculum recommendations arrived late and the problems kept piling up.

“Students a year ago began school without having updated standards and the final direction from the from the Department of Education,” said Roach. “It is almost unfathomable that our teachers are held to some ideal standard without being given concrete information to begin the school year.”

Not only were there issues with the curriculum, Roach claims the testing methods became an additional hurdle for the students to perform well on the tests.

“We had been told all students would take an online version of the test and we did not know what it would look like,” he said. “When it was finally rolled out, it was very clear the test wasn’t just about content mastery, it was about computer skills and multiple manipulations within a question. A day prior schools were given the opportunity to opt out of the online. That became problematic for us because we had tried earnestly to prepare our kids for the online test. It is difficult to know whether we made the right decision. The state has been unable to determine that themselves. In total, this has just left educators and students uncertain to any validity attributed to last year’s test.”

As schools continue to await the results of last year’s ISTEP, they are also continuing trying to get students ready for a new round of testing in the spring. The delay in the results is adding to another round of education frustration.

“At this point we will have soon completed an entire semester and the fate of our teachers is not in their hands,” said Roach. “They are attempting to do everything they can to meet the letter of the law, to do what is right for their students. The concept of remediation is almost absurd at this point based on that test.”

School officials believe it could be sometime after the first of the year before the state completes its scoring of the tests and gets the final results back to schools and parents.