Legislators Take First Steps Toward Backing Shorter ISTEP

Legislative leaders took preliminary steps Monday to give state Superintendent Glenda Ritz more flexibility to shorten the state’s ISTEP exam, which is scheduled to begin in less than two weeks.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said lawmakers are still working out the language with Ritz and Gov. Mike Pence’s office. But the legislation is expected to give her the ability to ax a social studies section from the test and give her more options for releasing open-ended questions to parents and teachers.

The issues are “developing quickly,” Bosma said.

Bosma took the unusual step Monday of assigning Senate Bill 62 to the House Education Committee and said it will be used to carry the new language. Typically, Senate bills don’t move to House committees until after the chamber is done with its own legislation, a deadline that comes next week.

But state leaders have only about 10 days to finish work on ISTEP changes before Part 1 of the exam is to be administered to 350,000 students statewide.

Pence demanded one week ago that Ritz act to shorten the ISTEP test, which is projected to last more than 12 hours for third grade students. That’s about twice as long as last year.

The Department of Education said state and federal rules and laws, plus the state’s transition to new standards and a new test, forced the longer exam. But Ritz announced on Friday that she’d found ways to reduce the test by three hours for all grades and another hour for fifth and sixth grade students – if she got some help from lawmakers.

Most of the reductions will come from changes in the way questions are piloted for the 2016 exam, which will be a complete testing overhaul to match new curriculum standards. Ritz said she came to the decisions largely in consultation with experts Pence hired last week to make recommendations for shortening the test.

The action came as supporters of Ritz rallied at the Statehouse Monday afternoon. They oppose bills that would shift authority away from her office.

Rally organizers include the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, the Indiana PTA and teachers unions.