Indiana ISTEP+ battles puts spotlight on testing challenges

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Thousands of Indiana students are buckling down to a new standardized test this week after an uproar over longer exams forced education leaders, lawmakers and Gov. Mike Pence to step in and shorten the assessment taken annually by about 450,000 students.

The battle over the ISTEP+ exam, which was revamped after Indiana abandoned the national Common Core standards to create its own, has cast an uncomfortable spotlight on the challenges states face as they try to forge their own paths to school accountability.

Forty-five states initially signed on to the Common Core standards, which emphasize critical thinking and spell out what reading and math skills students should grasp at each grade level. Many have since had second thoughts, driven in part by concerns that the federal government is interfering too much in local education.

But state officials are discovering it's perhaps easier to object to federal standards than it is to come up with better ones.

"There are only so many ways to write college- and career-ready standards in English and math," noted Michael Brickman, national policy director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Indiana adopted its new standards last April, a month after it announced it would scrap the Common Core standards. Though Pence says the new standards are "written for Hoosiers, by Hoosiers," many testing experts say they still heavily resemble Common Core.

"Governor Pence did not get a good set of standards for Indiana," said Sandra Stotsky, a retired University of Arkansas professor and Common Core opponent who has called Indiana's new standards "Common Core warmed over."

The speed with which Indiana has tried to implement the new standards has also drawn scrutiny.

The state had hoped to use this year as a transition to a new assessment that reflected the standards. But the U.S. Department of Education ordered a fully operational test to be administered this year in order for the state to retain its waiver from No Child Left Behind, the federal law that required annual testing in reading and math in grades three to eight and again in high school. That quick turnaround, which didn't allow time for separate pilot tests, contributed to doubling this year's initial test times.

Experts say it can take three years to develop new standards and implement assessments that measure those standards effectively.

"There are unintended consequences involved with switching standards so quickly," Brickman said. "Common Core was developed and implemented over a number of years, and it's still not perfect."

Missouri Rep. Kurt Bahr, who sponsored legislation in his state last year that would enlist educators, parents and state officials to review state education standards, is keenly aware of the challenges.

"The biggest problem isn't the standards," he said. "Getting the assessments right after the standards is as important if not more important than getting the standards right."

Indiana students initially faced about 12 hours of testing on the revised ISTEP+ exam, more than double the length of last year's test. Ensuing protests prompted Pence to hire two consultants to work with the Department of Education to find ways to shorten the test. Pence signed legislation on Monday trimming more than three hours from the exam.

Despite those steps, many parents have had enough.

Jennifer Juarez, who lives in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers, said her fifth- and seventh-grade daughters will take the test. But she said she and her husband don't put much stock in the scores and called the exam "a joke," noting that thousands of students were kicked offline during testing in 2013 because of issues with the test administrator's servers.

Andie Redwine of Springville, about 60 miles southwest of Indianapolis, says her children won't participate in the testing.

Redwine said she supports public schools but thinks the testing situation has gotten out of hand and treats students like "mass-produced products."

"I think it's time that parents like myself stand up and say, 'Wait a minute. We've got a jewel here and we don't want to lose it,'" Redwine said.

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Associated Press writer Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this story.