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.

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.