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Putnam school supts. speak out on ILEARN
The release of the results of the 2019 ILEARN test, Indiana’s latest controversial standardized test, is set for the conclusion of the State Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 4. State leaders are already calling for a variety of actions to be taken regarding the scores.
Adding their voices to the discussion, Putnam County’s four public school superintendents have released the following regarding the ILEARN scores.
As you may know, in the coming weeks the Indiana Department of Education will publish the results of the ILEARN assessment that was administered to all third- through eighth-grade students last Spring.
It is important to understand while ILEARN is supposed to serve as a similar version of the previously administered ISTEP, there are many differences and new practices that will negatively impact students, teachers and your school districts.
Although there are more, the most concerning aspects are as follows:
1. Students were tested on material they may have had little or no experience with.
2. The rescore request window was provided prior to parents’ and/or school administrators’ access to student ILEARN scores.
3. The cutoff scores determining a Pass or Fail were set high and after testing concluded.
In short, these and other factors will drive most Indiana public schools’ ILEARN scores down and will create a perception that our public school teachers are ineffective in providing your student(s) a high-quality education.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
That said, lower ILEARN scores could not only negatively impact the districts, but the teachers within those districts as well. Because Indiana requires “objective: measures of student growth “must significantly inform the evaluation,” the ILEARN test can directly impact teacher compensation. Our teachers, staff, administrators and you, the community, work very hard to ensure students are receiving a high-quality education. Other metrics such as graduation rate, SAT/ACT, instructor-created assessment, and longitudinal student data can more accurately validate the level of education our students are receiving. We must move away from pointing solely to ILEARN scores as a measure of the effectiveness of our teacher and districts.
We do not want to see our teachers adversely impacted by a new testing system in which they had and have no control. The teachers and students of Putnam County are so much more than a test score, especially one that has no significant, research-based impact on the teaching and learning taking place in our schools.
We as a school community are asking for your help. Please contact your Indiana legislators and demand that:
A. ILEARN scores will not adversely impact teachers;
B. The grading of school districts based, in part, on ILEARN scores be immediately paused;
C. Teachers and administrators are afforded adequate time to review the new ILEARN so it may inform adjustments to curriculum and instruction;
D. And to stop changing the metrics by which our schools are evaluated every few years.
ILEARN is a shining example of how federal and state mandates are hurting students, teachers and districts. The number of teachers and staff leaving the profession is staggering and the lack of young people entering the profession is even more concerning. It is a trend that simply cannot be sustained.
We want to thank our community members for their unwavering support of our students, teachers, and Putnam County school districts. Together, we can make a difference.
Bruce Bernhardt, Jeff Hubble, Greg Linton and Nicole Singer are the Superintendents of our four Putnam County school districts — South Putnam Community Schools, Greencastle Community School Corporation, Cloverdale Community Schools and North Putnam Schools.