Gov. Mike Pence Thursday signed two bills that shield teachers and schools from the 2015 ISTEP+ scores.

Pearson Education is running the ISTEP exam that begins in February under a $33 million, two-year contract. A Pearson spokesman said the practice test is designed to stress the system so problems can be corrected.

The Hou­se Education Committee took a first look at a bill that calls for a re-score of the 2015 ISTEP+ assessment Tuesday. HB 1395, among other things, calls for an outside group to rescore last year's test.

Indiana lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved bills giving teachers and schools a one-year reprieve from being punished for poor student performance on ISTEP exams.

Rep. Clyde Kersey, wants to replace ISTEP with the Indiana Student Achievement Testing program, beginning in the 2017-2018 school year. The new exam would grade student performance in English/language arts, math, science and social studies.

Here's how badly Indiana's schools did on the new ISTEP: Just four of 1,500 public schools that took the 2015 exam had more kids pass than the year before.

As the General Assembly convened Tuesday for the 2016 legislative session, discussion of how to handle this year's A-F grades was one of the first issues addressed.

Gov. Mike Pence and state Superintendent Glenda Ritz finally agree on the best way to handle a "pause" of penalties schools would otherwise pay for poor test scores for 2014-15, and they appear poised to follow Ritz's preferred approach.

Accountability and the future of Indiana's assessment system will be major priorities during the 2016 legislative session, as issues with the ISTEP+ continue to surface.