EDUCATION

Glenda Ritz expects ISTEP scores to take a huge hit

Louise Ronald, The Richmond Palladium-Item
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz addresses the board of directors of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County on Monday at the First Bank Richmond Financial Center.
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RICHMOND, Ind. — In 2014-15, Indiana adopted new, more rigorous educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade.

The state then developed new, more rigorous ISTEP+ tests to assess how well students were meeting those standards.

More rigorous standards and assessments will mean lower test scores, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz warned the board of directors of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County and about 30 visitors to the board’s monthly meeting on Monday.

“We are expecting a drop in scores,” said Ritz.

That drop could be as high as 20 to 30 percent.

In Indiana, those test scores are used to rank schools with grades from A to F. Those grades in turn, Ritz said, “affect the economic status of all of our areas.”

She would like to see the school grades for 2014-15 somehow acknowledge the drop in scores caused by the rigorous new standards and assessments.

Ritz has gone twice to Gov. Mike Pence “to seek flexibility for the actual assigning of school grades” (for 2014-15).

But whatever standard is used, school grades won’t be assigned soon. Ritz said she expects the state board of education to start determining cut-off scores for each school grade in October and final grades to be available by “probably the end of February.”

Ritz admitted assigning school grades is not her favorite part of her job.

“I do not believe in labeling schools A-B-C-D-F,” she said.

Her argument is that a student with a 3.5 grade point average from an F school is treated differently from a student with a 3.5 GPA from an A school — even though the student is not responsible for his or her school’s grade.

“Students should not have to leave (school) with that on their backs,” said Ritz.

That is one reason the state’s department of education is working on a new accountability system based on a 100-point scale that Ritz said will “more accurately reflect” how schools are doing.

The department also has developed a new diploma structure for Indiana high schools. It has been approved by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and will come before the state board of education later this month. “We feel very confident that it will be approved,” said Ritz.

The new structure includes three categories of diplomas: College and Career Ready, College and Career Ready with Honors and Workforce Ready.

All three categories require students to take a course in personal financial responsibility and to begin an exploration of their career path — not to lock them in to a predetermined occupation, Ritz said, but to encourage them to think about the possibilities for their future.

“We feel pretty excited about it at the department of education,” she said.

In August, Ritz dropped a bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2016. Instead, she said, she will run to retain her current office.