The ISTEP system failed, not our schools

Citizens of Putnam County:

After an interminable sixth-month delay since our students completed their tests, the Indiana Department of Education has finally released last spring's ISTEP+ testing results.

Since all schools in Indiana are currently struggling to make sense of their scores, the four Putnam County superintendents want to send the following message to our stakeholders: The academic achievement and learning growth of our students will NOT be accurately reflected in these recently-released scores. In fact, Putnam County boasts many award-winning schools whose teachers provide top-notch educational experiences to our students.

The scores recently made available to parents were results of a flawed system -- a new test that will generate data that unfairly informs our schools' letter grades to the extent that the state preemptively announced test scores in English Language Arts declined by an average of 16 percent statewide while Algebra scores dropped by 24 percent on average! These staggering drops are results of a change in testing, not a change in student learning. As a matter of fact, students in Indiana are successfully learning; national and formative assessments attest to that each year.

This past month, the results of the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) reported the highest scores in the state of Indiana since the inception of the test in 1992. Additionally, each district uses formative assessment to determine student success and growth throughout the school year. The results of these assessments are analyzed to determine student progress and to provide ever-improving quality instruction to meet each student's needs.

The ISTEP+ test administered in spring of 2015 was a new test of increased rigor and content which was not released to our teachers and students until after the beginning of the school year without sufficient time to master. Then, months after the administration of the test, the cut scores for passing were determined arbitrarily, citing a need for growth opportunity as a reason for low scores.

As a result, schools across Indiana that averaged a passing rate of 80 percent or more in previous years will suddenly have scores below 60 percent with the same sets of students, teachers and the same high-quality instruction.

While determining and meeting the educational needs of students should be the goal of all assessment, the focus of Indiana's assessment system has become its impact on teachers' evaluations and school letter grades. For months, Superintendent Glenda Ritz has been warning that the ISTEP+ results will leave many schools wrongly labeled as failing and she has advocated for a freeze on the scores from the previous year.

Governor Pence has recently announced his support of that plan stating, "I am writing to inform you that I have reached out to Republican House and Senate leadership in the Indiana General Assembly and legislation is currently being crafted to ensure that test results will not negatively impact teacher evaluations or performance bonuses this year. It is important to ensure that our A-F system fairly reflects the efforts of our students and teachers during this transition year."

Without legislative action, a vast majority of the schools in Indiana will be labeled as failing or declining. Unfairly labeling our schools as "D" or "F" will bring huge consequences. A failing school in Indiana is required to dedicate hours of instructional time to administrative work to "prove" that the school is improving. We deeply believe that our schools are providing high-quality instruction and that our students are growing and learning on a daily basis. We have tremendous, hard-working and talented teachers who are the best-trained educators available.

We are proud of the teachers and students in Putnam County. Despite the skewed test scores and inaccurate school letter grades that Indiana is releasing, our students are immersed in outstanding educational programs.

The system in Indiana is failing -- not our local schools.

Greg Linton, Cloverdale Superintendent

Bruce Bernhardt, South Putnam Superintendent