House Approves Bill To Shorten ISTEP

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana House unanimously approved legislation Monday to shorten the length of the ISTEP test that begins this week, clearing the way for the Senate to vote quickly to send the bill to the governor.

Senate Bill 62 makes the social studies portion of the test optional and changes the way some questions are piloted for next year’s exam.

Combined, the changes are expected to shave at least three hours off the test for all grades plus an additional hour in 5th and 7th grades, which take the social studies test. Republican lawmakers said Monday the changes could save even more time.

Lawmakers are fast-tracking the bill to get it passed before the ISTEP exam gets underway in hundreds of schools across Indiana.

The Indiana Department of Education has already advised schools to make the changes in anticipation of the bill becoming law.

The bill’s author, Rep. Casey Cox, R-Fort Wayne, said the bill is an example of the way state leaders “do come together among common ideas.”

State leaders – including lawmakers, state Superintendent Glenda Ritz and Gov. Mike Pence – have been scrambling to shorten a test that has had been projected to double in length this year to as long as 12-1/2 hours for some students.

Pence and Republicans initially blamed Ritz, a Democrat, for the problems. But she’s insisted the longer test is the result of legislative mandates and federal rules as well as the state’s transition to curriculum standards that require a new test in 2016.