Glenda Ritz Vows ISTEP Will Be Reduced For All Students

State Superintendent Glenda Ritz said today the first part of the ISTEP+ will be reduced by more than three hours all for all students in grades 3-8. The exam begins in two weeks.

Ritz made the announcement this morning during a special meeting of the State Board of Education. She also accepted a series of suggestions by two testing consultants hired by Gov. Mike Pence to find ways to reduce the length the second part of the ISTEP+ which begins in May.

"We are ready to go," she said.

Late last month Ritz shocked school leaders with news that this year’s ISTEP+ would be 12-hours in length, or twice as long as last year's exam. Schools, parents and lawmakers demanded the test be reduced. Pence called the testing plan "unacceptable" and signed an executive order to hire the consultants and seek a way to cut the testing time in half.

After the board meeting ended, Pence issued a statement calling Ritz's promise to shorten the test "welcome news."

"I am especially grateful for the efforts of our testing experts who were able to quickly recommend ways to significantly shorten the test and lessen the burden on our kids, parents and teachers," he said.

'A clear leadership void'

But board member Dan Elsener said reducing the amount of testing students face should’ve been a priority during the development of this test.

Exam vendor CTB/McGraw Hill began creating the Spring 2015 ISTEP+ last fall, just months after new K-12 academic standards were approved by Pence and Ritz.

“This could’ve been taken care of a long time ago," he said in a statement after the meeting."There is a clear leadership void that has caused a lot of angst for everyone that could’ve been prevented.”

Board members say they've been left in the dark over the test length as it was developed. Ritz has countered that the board and Pence's staff were informed of the increase in questions on the ISTEP last August. 

Yet according to meeting minutes, details about the length of the test were unavailable at the Aug. 6 meeting.

Ritz will also ask the General Assembly to suspend the social studies portion of the ISTEP+ for students in grades 5 and 7.  This would additionally reduce testing time by more than one hour.

Edward Roeber, a Michigan-based testing consultant, offered five recommendations to the board on how to cut the ISTEP while remaining within federal guidelines and ensuring student learning can be measured:

• Reduce open-ended questions items by 80 percent
• Questions that will be used as pilots for future testing be given to only a sample of students being tested this year
• Pilot test question for Spring 2016 ISTEP with a fall test
• Remove the social studies for one year
• Calculate student academic growth without using extra questions

Roeber said the options of piloting 2016 test questions at a later time would "kick the can down the road."

Ritz attempted to hold a vote on a resolution to that would suspend accountability for schools and teachers tied to results from the spring ISTEP+ exam. But board members prevented her from approving the meeting agenda with that item. 

Ritz told WFYI Thursday that she would fight to suspend accountability until the end of this year's General Assembly session.

Contact WFYI reporter Eric Weddle at eweddle@wfyi.org or call (317) 614-0470. Follow on Twitter: @ericweddle.