School leaders demand action on ISTEP replacement

School superintendents are blasting a state panel for its slow progress in choosing a replacement for the controversial ISTEP student test, saying further delays will put students at risk.

As one group of southern Indiana superintendents put it Wednesday, if the panel chaired by a Gov. Mike Pence appointee fails to act, then students will “continue to be pawns of a legislative agenda that does not value the best practices of instruction and assessment.”

“Failure to act and maintaining status quo of this system is not an option,” the letter released by 24 superintendents read.

The pushback comes as top panel members have said the state will likely delay any changes until after spring 2018. That would mean missing the original deadline for the ISTEP replacement to be in place. The initial timeline called for the new test by the 2017-18 school year.

On Wednesday, superintendents gathered in Evansville to release a letter expressing concerns of the panel’s progress. Superintendents in Central Indiana and Northern Indiana told IndyStar their regions are planning similar measures ahead of the panel’s next meeting in November. The panel — whose membership includes Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, lawmakers and local school officials — is expected to make a recommendation by Dec. 1.

“We are all just a little bit over this constant high-stakes testing,” said Jeff Hendrix, president of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents from the School Town of Munster, “and we don’t see a real purpose or service to our students. It serves a political agenda.”

Hendrix said he has spoken with one member of the panel who is frustrated that certain testing options aren’t being heard.

The panel was tasked with a job, said Stacey Humbaugh, superintendent of South Gibson Schools, and they owe it to their constituents to get it done.

“It is not fair to our students, nor our parents, nor our staff members,” Humbaugh said. “We’re no further ahead and all of us anticipated this (panel) was really going to get something done.”

Superintendents are “on the same page,” said Rich Arkanoff, superintendent of Center Grove Schools, who is drafting a letter for Central Indiana school leaders. He said panel members and lawmakers need to make sure to “pick the right assessment and get all the right tools in place” before sending it out to schools.

“We need to focus on the student, and I think that the legislative involvement is not allowing that to happen,” Arkanoff said.

What’s clear is teachers and students have been missing from the conversation, said David Smith, superintendent of Evansville Vanderburgh Community Schools.

“Put students first,” Smith said. “Get politics out of the equation, and do what’s right for kids. If we want to continue to change those things that teachers are supposed to do, then they have to understand that comes at a price — students.”

But state Rep. Robert Behning, the House’s education policy leader, said educators make up much of the panel. He said the group is being deliberative in its work and looking for ways to “push the envelope.”

Behning, an Indianapolis Republican, said they’ve repeatedly heard: “Don’t rush this process.”

“I’m kind of like, what’s the rush?” he said. “We’ve got this window of time. Do you think that six months is too long a time to take studying where we should take our next step?”

Nicole Fama, the panel’s chair and Indianapolis Public Schools principal, said she understands when people say the panel isn't making enough progress.

"You want immediate results because it's so important," Fama said. "But you don't want to rush because it's so important. ... We wanted to make sure we did it right."

Fama said she hopes school leaders will "stick with us."

"And wait and see how this plays out and how this pans out, and hopefully they'll be on board," she said.

Ritz said she has made a proposal but that she has been barred from presenting it at a panel meeting.

Ritz wants to move toward a test that students in Grades 3-8 would take three times a year — in fall, winter and spring. She also wants the test to be computer adaptive, a method of testing where questions get harder or easier based on a student’s answer.

She also has proposed eliminating a reading test for third-graders, a remediation test taken by some high school students and social studies testing. The proposal also would reduce the number of open-ended questions as compared to the current ISTEP.

Opponents of adaptive testing worry that schools don’t have the technology to successfully give that type of exam.

The panel is scheduled to meet next on Nov. 15. The group was created after lawmakers repealed ISTEP during the past legislative session. That repeal is currently slated to take effect this summer.

Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyStarChelsea.