Lessons from a handful of the most-viewed papers from the American Education Research Association last year.

Indiana saw another year of steep growth in its private school voucher program, with more than 29,000 students using the program to attend private school now estimated to be costing taxpayers more than $116 million. That's an increase in participation of nearly 50 percent during this past year.

Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill into law Monday to reduce the time students will spend taking the ISTEP test that begins this week - just hours after the House and Senate approved the legislation unanimously.

The number of Indiana students receiving school vouchers has grown by 47 percent this school year to more than 29,000, according to the Indiana Department of Education annual report.

Testing times for the ISTEP+ exam doubled to about 12 hours when the assessment was revamped to align with new state education standards. The Department of Education notified schools this week that it is shaving three hours from the exam.

This week Eric and Chris discuss a proposal that would end the ISTEP and other standardized tests and replace them with an "off-the-shelf" national test.

The DOE decided to split the open-ended portion of the test, which begins next week, into two forms. They say that will shave three hours off the original twelve-hour test.

Gov. Mike Pence told a gathering of children from charter and private schools today that education can take them where they want to go in life, as it did for his family.

Indiana's proposed two-year budget, released today, would add more money for education than in recent years, widely boosting per-student basic aid. But changes in the funding system appear likely to funnel most of those extra dollars to wealthy suburban school districts, while some of the poorest schools could actually get less money.

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.