Vice President-elect Mike Pence signed the bill that was supposed to end ISTEP by spring 2017, however students are still taking the test. Students will continue taking the ISTEP until our state legislators decide on a new standardized test. In 2015, the ISTEP scores were so low that the legislators decided not to allow any drops in scores to affect the schools grade or teacher evaluations. This year’s scores are even worse. Only 66% of third to eight graders passed English, 58.9% passed math, and 51% passed both. In 2013, the 80% of students were passing. Additionally, Muncie Community Schools had 40.4% passing both sections. Steven Baule, Muncie’s Superintendent, commented that ISTEP is poorly designed and does not measure students’ success accurately. Jennifer McCormick has agreed to end ISTEP. She wants to see an assessment that has a significant less test time and wants to reconsider how it will affect teachers’ evaluations.
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Abstract by Elizabeth Wood, AIR apprentice
