After ISTEP Snafu, School Letter Grades Are ‘Starting Over’

As a result, legislation was proposed and signed into law by Governor Pence to hold schools and teachers harmless for the lower performance experienced across the state.

You can find the 2014-2015 School Accountability Grades right here (file is in Microsoft Excel format).

In other action, the Board approved a resolution that would continue the turnaround efforts now in place at traditional public and public charter schools that might be eligible for additional state intervention based on their 2014-15 accountability grade. The previous year, two P-H-M schools received a “B” while the rest got “A” grades.

School leaders sought the relief, arguing the 2015 grades would inaccurately reflect the academic progress of their schools if they were linked to student scores on last year’s ISTEP.

The Indiana State Board of Education unanimously approved the 2015 school A-F accountability grades Tuesday, after legislation prevented ISTEP scores from negatively impacting the grades.

In Anderson, A grades were given to Edgewood, Tenth Street, Valley Grove, Anderson and Erskine elementary schools.

“After more than 18 months spent advocating to hold our schools and teachers harmless for the transition to more rigorous college- and career-ready standards and the results of a more rigorous ISTEP+ assessment, I am pleased to release 2015 school accountability grades that do not penalize schools and communities for this transition”, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz said.

Last year’s exam was plagued by scoring problems, design issues and computer glitches, all which have lawmakers looking for a way out once the state finishes its next two-year contract with British-based test company Pearson in 2017.

“Rather than make the General Assembly make that determination at this point in time, it just provides that the state board can make that decision”, said House education Chairman Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis.

For the 2016 test, the state will move to a new way to measure A-F grades that factors in ISTEP scores, as well as the growth of individual students.

Statewide, 75 percent of all schools received an A or B; 14 percent a C; 6 percent a D; and 2.6 percent an F. Now, 46 percent of IPS schools fall in those rankings.

The test was lengthened to cover new standards.

Another new law that Pence signed last week restricts teacher performance pay from lowering because of ISTEP scores. “I want to thank Indiana’s students, educators, and families for their hard work and patience during this challenging school year”, Ritz said in a statement.

This story will be updated.