HANCOCK COUNTY — Virtual components of education have become a norm this school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One aspect of school, however, cannot be done virtually in Indiana, and that’s standardized tests.
The exams have to be taken in person, requiring schools to find ways to test large groups of students safely; have certain students come in even though they’ve chosen to receive all instruction virtually; and face possible impacts to school- and district-wide evaluations.
The window opened last week and continues through Feb. 26 for the Indiana Statewide Testing of Educational Progress Plus, or ISTEP+. High school juniors are taking it after the pandemic prevented them from doing so as sophomores last spring.
While the ISTEP has been a graduation requirement in the past, students starting with the class of 2023 are able to graduate through the option of completing alternate pathways that don’t include the exam.
Testing windows open later this year for the Indiana Learning Evaluation Assessment Readiness Network, or ILEARN, for grades three through eight; and the Indiana Reading and Evaluation Determination-3, or IREAD-3.
The Mt. Vernon school district has 740 virtual students. All of its high school students are at least half virtual, due to its hybrid schedule, which calls for certain students to attend on certain days and be virtual on others. Thursdays are virtual for the entire student body. The schedule reduces the number of people in the building at one time and with it, the possibility of spreading COVID-19.
Scott Shipley, Mt. Vernon’s director of curriculum, said high school students came in last Thursday to take ISTEP and will return to complete it this Thursday.
Shipley said about 100 students need to take the test, about 40 of whom are virtual. They take the test in the school cafeteria while wearing masks and are spaced apart.
Schools are required to test at least 95% of students, Shipley said. If any students are unable to complete ISTEP because of a COVID-19-related need to isolate or quarantine, it would be noted in their permanent file.
“We usually are very close to the 100% mark; however, every year there are a few students who are unable to test for one reason or another, or we have undetermined scores for one reason or another,” Shipley told the Daily Reporter in an email. “We note those reasons in student permanent files. At this point, the state has not given us any flexibility on how the results will be used. Therefore, students who do not test could potentially affect the school and school corporation letter grades.”
The Indiana Department of Education hopes the state legislature will pass an exemption waiving schools from being judged based on this year’s exams.
It would be the third year for exempting schools from new letter grades after difficulties with the new ILEARN exam in 2019 and the pandemic the year after.
About 270 students are solely virtual in the Southern Hancock school district.
Wes Anderson, director of school and community relations for the district, said ISTEP testing began at the high school on Feb. 2. He added the school is setting aside additional time in the evenings for virtual students to come in.
Part of the school’s strategy is finding larger areas to test students, like cafeterias, libraries and classrooms not being used, Anderson continued.
“Those kids are in one place for a long time, so that social-distancing piece is super important,” he said.
With the testing window taking up almost the entire month, Anderson said the school corporation isn’t too worried about students not being able to complete their exams due to a need to isolate or quarantine.
“As long as we can test them in the window, we’re fine,” he said.
The Greenfield-Central school district has about 600 students in its virtual program. Its high school is also on a hybrid schedule.
Harold Olin, Greenfield-Central’s superintendent, said all high school juniors will come in to take their ISTEP on Wednesdays, a day that’s typically been a virtual day for all students.
“We have made accommodations to spread them out and make that happen,” Olin said.
Olin said Northwest Evaluation Association, or NWEA, testing was conducted onsite for the district’s elementary school students earlier this year. He expects testing to be carried out comparably throughout upcoming windows.
“It’ll be similar to that format as we bring kids in for some extended periods of time to test later in the spring,” he said. “Most of our families have understood that. It’ll look a little bit different for us this spring, but I think our families and our students will be prepared for that.”
A few families of virtual students did not bring their children in for NWEA testing, Olin said, adding the state does not mandate that test.
Eastern Hancock High School is on a hybrid schedule as well. Adam Barton, principal of the high school and the district’s middle school, said ISTEP practice tests started last week while the actual exam will be administered this week and next.
High school juniors will come in to take the test’s math portion over two mornings and the test’s English portion over two other mornings regardless of whether it’s a virtual day for them. Those for whom it is a virtual day will return home after the test.
“We will have hopefully a large percentage of our juniors with us for the two mornings of the math test and the two mornings of the English test,” Barton said.
He added the school hopes to have its fully virtual juniors, who represent a small amount, come in to take the test before the window closes.
“We’ll have that last week of February to work with students individually if they weren’t able to come in,” Barton said.
Amanda Pyle, principal of Eastern Hancock Elementary School, said the school currently only has two students considered fully virtual while the rest come in every day unless they need to quarantine.
In the fall, the school had a number of students who were virtual when NWEA tests were administered, but they were able to take them electronically at home, Pyle added.
Some virtual students came in to take part in testing in the middle of the academic year, she also said.
“In general, our parents have been very supportive,” Pyle said. “They understand the need to get that assessment piece for us, and they have been very cooperative. When we have brought in some virtual kids for testing, we’ve been very diligent and worked very hard to make sure that the students did not have any contact here in the building that could potentially expose them to the virus.”
