Indianapolis News and Headlines

Actions

Gov. Pence signs bill ending ISTEP

Posted at 9:40 AM, Mar 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-22 19:01:47-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- If you have children in elementary schools, expect major changes over the next couple years to the way their academic success is measured.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was at Eagle Elementary School in Zionsville Tuesday to sign a bill into law that officially eliminates the ISTEP test.

The change will go into affect July 1, 2017.

ALSO READ | ISTEP testing begins in Indiana, possibly for the last year

The bill also establishes a 23-member panel to study the feasibility of alternatives to ISTEP.

The standardized test has been a hot topic following the technical issues it had last year. State lawmakers jumped in to make the test shorter and make sure results didn't negatively impact teachers or schools.

PREVIOUS | ISTEP+ scores show expected drop from last year's results

But even with a new vendor there were still issues.

A question on the 6th grade math test was flawed and could have caused issues with scoring.

The Indiana Department of Education decided that question would not be counted. Administrators also said there was a typo in a 6th grade science test -- but that mistake didn't impact the answer.

-----

Download the new and improved RTV6 app to get the latest news on the go and receive alerts to your phone

Sign up to have the latest news headlines delivered straight to your email inbox