HANCOCK COUNTY — More than half of Hancock County students will spend parts of the next few weeks taking the state’s new high-stakes standardized exam, a test local educators hope benefits school instruction more than the state’s former mandated test.
Two years ago, the Indiana General Assembly voted to phase out the unpopular ISTEP+ exam and replace it with ILEARN, a computer-adaptive test developed by a few hundred Indiana educators. ISTEP for years was riddled with computer glitches, changes in test vendors and scoring delays. The new exam is supposed to fix all those problems.
Students in grades 3 through 8 will take math and English exams; fourth- and sixth-graders will have an additional science test; and fifth-graders will also test for social studies. High school sophomores will take only a biology exam. ILEARN, which schools can start administering as early as Monday, affects A-F accountability grades. The exam window lasts until May 17.
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Indiana Department of Education officials say ILEARN better aligns with state standards than ISTEP. Over the past four years, only half of Indiana students passed both the English and math ISTEP exams.
“Because educator feedback is elicited and followed in each step, the new ILEARN assessments reflect the values and beliefs of Indiana educators and tightly align to the academic expectations of the state,” according to a document from May 2018 on the department’s website.
Devon Marine, principal of Greenfield Intermediate School, said teachers and administrators have been preparing for ILEARN since the beginning of the school year. The computer-adaptive structure of the English and math exams adjusts test questions for students based on performance. The science and social studies exam is an online fixed assessment, meaning all students receive the same test questions.
“We’ve been trying to make sure that we give all our students all of the opportunities throughout the year to practice that — because it will be different,” Marine said.
Last fall, Greenfield-Central launched the ILEARN Hub online, a site that contained “all things ILEARN” for teachers and administrators, said Ann Vail, associate superintendent. The site offers weekly updates on news about the test, Vail said, as well as web pages geared to each grade-level test.
ILEARN is also not timed, unlike ISTEP, Vail said. That allows students to test at their own pace. It’s also a shorter test, an average of two hours less than ISTEP, according to the DOE website.
Stacy Muffler, principal of Fortville Elementary School in the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation, said teachers have been offering students after-school tutoring for ILEARN since February. They’ve also been meeting with elementary students for remediation and re-teaching of grade-level content.
Over the past week, Muffler said the school has had a “spirit week” to celebrate the spring season and also to get students “excited” for ILEARN. Students not taking ILEARN at the elementary school — kindergartners through second-graders — have been writing letters of encouragement to their peers.
“Assessment is part of learning,” Muffler said. “Our (teachers) do a good job of reminding kids to show what you know; this is kind of your time to show off … and your best is good enough.”
Since ILEARN is taken on the computer — ISTEP tested students online as well as in the traditional paper/pencil format — students have also learned about how the exam is designed and how to use “technology-enhanced features,” said Amanda Pyle, principal of Eastern Hancock Elementary School.
“We want to ensure that the students are demonstrating their knowledge of content matter and not missing questions based on the inability to use the technology,” Pyle said.
Both Pyle and Dave Pfaff, principal of Eastern Hancock Middle School and High School, said the state’s constant changes in testing have been frustrating.
“It feels as though we are constantly trying to hit a moving target,” Pyle said.
Despite the adjustments, some educators expect better student test data — and also sooner results.
DOE officials say the test scores will be available when the school year begins in August. Starting in the 2019-20 school year, the state will release the results even more quickly, by July 1, according to DOE. Over the past few years, schools have had to wait for results until October or November.
The delays meant schools couldn’t alter instruction before the next school year began, and ISTEP didn’t provide a breakdown on which questions students missed. It only said how many students either passed or failed the tests, said Wes Anderson, public relations director for Southern Hancock schools.
“Without that data about exactly what our students answered correctly and incorrectly, it made it very difficult for us to adjust our curriculum and instruction,” Anderson said. “We’re hopeful that ILEARN will be able to provide that data, which will help us form and shape a better, stronger curriculum.”
Vail said ILEARN is just one way schools monitor student performance. She said G-C schools have developed an instructional model that “guides instruction through purposeful planning, meaningful instruction and assessing for understanding.” She said teachers work to adjust lessons to include the multi-step problems, strategic thinking and technology that the state formulated for ILEARN.
“Our goal is to provide a high-quality curriculum that prepares students to have a toolkit of skills and knowledge they can apply to any new task,” she said.
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ILEARN is a computer-adaptive test. That means the exam adjusts to each student’s mastery of the content throughout the assessment. Every time a student answers a question, his or her response helps determine the next question presented. The difficulty of the test will adjust to each student’s skills, providing a better measure of what each student knows and can do.
Source: Indiana Department of Education
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The new online testing system for ILEARN is more accessible to students who require features or accommodations while testing. New tools and resources are available to help students show what they know:
- Built-in glossaries
- Spell check, a dictionary and a thesaurus
- Calculator
- Spanish translations
Source: Indiana Department of Education
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