Pence, Ritz team up — for now — to shorten ISTEP
The clash over ISTEP testing eased Wednesday when Republican Gov. Mike Pence announced he was working with Democrat Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz to significantly shorten the exam, which doubled in length.
That goodwill, though, will be tested Friday when the Indiana State Board of Education convenes to discuss Ritz's proposal to suspend school accountability standards.
Consequently, schools would not receive a letter grade for the 2015-16 school year, complicating school funding and teacher raises tied to those marks. Pence opposes the move.
The governor, who ordered an emergency review of the ISTEP on Monday, said recommendations on how to shorten the 12-hour exam would be delivered to the State Board of Education by its meeting this week, where it will discuss how the test swelled by six hours and 37 minutes.
Two experts — hired at $22,000 a piece — will comb over the ISTEP and weigh in on how it can be shortened. The price of modifying this year's ISTEP, which will have cost the state more than $7.7 million by Feb. 27, will be determined after the consultants evaluate the exam, Pence said.
"I just got off the phone with Superintendent Glenda Ritz, and I am pleased to report that the superintendent and the Department of Education have agreed to release all requested information to the state's consultants," said Pence, who has no legal authority to modify the ISTEP or direct how it is administered to students.
Control of the ISTEP rests with Ritz and the Education Department. Although the Board of Education will weigh in on what changes could be made to the exam, those decisions ultimately must be made by Ritz and her department.
ISTEP, which has been modified three times since 2009, doubled in length because it was brought in line with new state and federal requirements and includes questions that will be used to craft future exams. The test is scheduled to be given beginning Feb. 25 to 450,000 Hoosier students in Grades 3-8.
CTB/McGraw-Hill, the ISTEP vendor, submitted solutions to shorten the exam to state officials that included condensing or tossing out some sections or altering the scoring requirements.
The Department of Education has warned that altering ISTEP could impact state or federal regulations and violate the state's waiver from No Child Left Behind.
Both Ritz and Pence said they'd been in contact with the U.S. Department of Education about the ISTEP crisis. The Star asked Dorie Turner Nolt, a spokeswoman for the federal agency, for comment but received no response.
Ritz also met with Republican leaders of the House and Senate to keep them apprised of the ISTEP situation and said she stressed the need for a freeze on school accountability standards.
"This test is going to be so much more rigorous, we're expecting a 20 percent to 30 percent drop in scores," she said.
Pence, however, was having none of that.
"Let me be clear: We grade our kids every day, we can grade our schools every year," he said.
Star reporter Tony Cook contributed to this story.
Call Star reporter Kris Turner at (317) 444-6047. Follow him on Twitter: @krisnturner.