Area Superintendents Say ISTEP Grades Aren’t Accurate
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Michael Anderson-manderson@timesuniononline.com
Despite most area school corporations doing well on the state accountability grades, superintendents say the grades don’t accurately reflect student and teacher performance. The Indiana Department of Education released the overall 2016 accountability grades for the corporations on Wednesday. The individual school grades were released in December. The grades are mostly based on ISTEP scores. ISTEP is a standardized test used in Indiana. Warsaw, Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko, Triton and Manchester school corporations received a “B.” Wawasee School Corporation got a “C.” The grades are the first under a new accountability calculation that resulted in much fewer “A’s.” A similar trend showed up last month when individual school accountability grades were released, as there were fewer “A’s” and “F’s” but more grades in the middle. The latest update comes as the state legislature continues to grapple with how to revamp the testing program. Dr. Tom Edington, Wawasee superintendent, said he doesn’t put much stock in the grades. Steve Clason, superintendent at Whitko, is even more critical. “I’ve told my teachers if they ever graded a test the same way as ISTEP, I’d probably fire them,” he said. Most officials criticized the test for its constant changing criteria, technical issues with the test, and it isn’t an effective way to measure growth. IDOE added a growth component as part of the new grading system. Nonetheless, schools are left to assess the latest results. Edington said the test is not reliable and the schools don’t receive the results fast enough. The test is normally taken in March or April, and the grades aren’t released until December or January. He also complained of many technical problems administering the test. He said students have complained about being logged out in the middle of the test or the computer freezing during the test. “It’s a timed test. It can be really irritating for students when the test locks up,” Edington said. Dr. Bill Reichhart, superintendent for Manchester Community Schools, shared Edington’s concerns about the technical problems of the test, saying his students have experienced many of the same pitfalls. He also was critical of the growth measurement, saying the test was never designed to measure growth. “It’s unreliable, inefficient and the grades don’t reflect the hard work that teachers and students do,” Reichhart said. Most officials agree that some accountability measures need to be in place, but would like to see tweaks or a replacement to the current system. Dr. David Hoffert, Warsaw Community Schools superintendent, said the test needs to tweaked. “It’s only part of the evaluation, it doesn’t tell the whole story,” he said. Hoffert said he understands the state needs to have accountability, but he has concerns about the current method. Edington, who called the test a “political tool,” said he would like a new test that was created by educators and not by “politicians and political appointees.” Representatives of IDOE did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment on the issue by deadline today.
