In preliminary numbers compiled by State Board of Education staff, 17 percent of Indiana's K-12 schools will be considered failing under the state's A-F accountability system. Last year, 4 percent of schools were considered failing.

State leaders say they recognize the difficulties presented by changing standardized tests, and that they are taking the necessary steps to help make the transition go more smoothly.

Sen. Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, today called for the Indiana legislature to take the dramatic step of passing a bill next week during what is normally a mostly ceremonial session to protect schools and teachers from consequences of an expected steep drop in ISTEP scores.

With only two months left in the calendar year, Indiana schools are now one step closer to finally seeing their standardized test results from last spring.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is siding with Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz in calling for student scores on the ISTEP standardized test to not impact teacher pay this school year.

It's been two weeks since the Indiana State Board of Education put off a vote because of questions over potential differences in difficulty between the test's online and paper versions.

President Obama announced his administration will work with states to reduce the amount of time students spend taking standardized tests.

State Department of Education projections provided Tuesday to a legislative panel show that the state's next ISTEP test is expected to take about nine hours. That would make it some three hours shorter than the test given to Indiana students earlier this year.

Indiana has not yet seen an end to this year's ISTEP+ testing saga or the state's controversial relationship with testing company CTB-McGraw Hill. CTB officials informed State Superintendent Glenda Ritz there is an issue with a batch of new technology-enhanced test questions included on the statewide ISTEP+ test for the first time this spring, which will lead to a delay in the release of those test scores.

Standardized test scores for Indiana students will be delayed more than a month because the company hired to run the exam has hit a roadblock in grading a portion of the exam.