INDIANAPOLIS – A lengthy battle over the effectiveness of the ISTEP test left many administrators pleased to learn it would soon be replaced, but many of them are finding out there is a chance the exam won’t disappear from classrooms for another two years.
Districts like Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation argue the test has provided little value amid problems with the length, technical glitches and the time it’s taken districts to receive results.
"The data we're getting right now, when it comes back to us in November sometimes December, it's not information we can use to inform instruction, it's not anything we're doing that can impact what we're doing as a school district, and so, for the most part, it's useless,” said Shane Robbins, superintendent of Mt. Vernon.
Robbins isn’t the only superintendent who feels this way, Jeff Butts of Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township agrees. He wants to see a quicker turnaround for test results along with a shorter test.
"What we're trying to do with this assessment is to communicate back to our students, to our teachers, to our communities about what's happening inside of our school houses, about how well our children are doing and about how well prepared (they are) to go onto post-secondary education or a career,” said Butts.
Both districts have already begun using other assessments, including some they’ve created on their own, to measure student progress.
Senate Republicans are hoping to replace the test with one students would take closer to the end of the school year to offer fewer interruptions in instruction.
Lawmakers are expected to vote on officially extending the ISTEP through summer 2018 this legislative session.
