Student scores drop slightly on Indiana's ISTEP exam

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana student scores dropped slightly in standardized tests taken last spring, and some educators fear those results could impact the ratings of their schools under the oft-derided exams.

About 52 percent of students passed the English and math sections of ISTEP - Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress - down from 53.5 percent who passed both in 2015, according to figures released Thursday by the Indiana Department of Education.

Overall, 66.1 percent of students in grades 3-8 passed English, down from 67.3 percent last year, while 58.9 percent of students passed math in those grades, down from 61 percent in 2015.

The department is expected to release the latest school ratings next month.

Some school leaders want state officials to protect schools from their ratings being lowered after students scored poorly for the second consecutive year under the new standards. Superintendents told the State Board of Education on Wednesday that the ratings are a flawed measurement of their districts' quality because of inconsistencies with the testing system and the turbulence of recent changes.

"Indiana needs to get out of the business of delivering tests with so many devastating unintended consequences," said Steve Thalheimer, superintendent of Fairfield Community Schools in northern Indiana's Elkhart County.

State schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz said Indiana doesn't have the flexibility under federal regulations to prevent lower school ratings this year.

Parents and teachers blasted the exam last year after testing time jumped by several hours and schools had to wait months for the test scores. Cari Whicker, vice chair of the State Board of Education and a sixth-grade teacher in Huntington, said last year's results came so late that teachers couldn't use them to prepare for the next round of testing.

"We're all still adjusting," she said. "Teachers and students are learning, and we will certainly improve and see those go up."

A committee is working on recommendations for legislators to replace the ISTEP exams, which are taken by more than 400,000 students a year. The Republican-dominated Legislature voted this year to mandate that ISTEP be replaced for the 2017-18 school year, but lawmakers have said that deadline will likely be pushed back because the new exams won't be ready in time.

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To access local ISTEP results: http://www.doe.in.gov/accountability/find-school-and-corporation-data-reports