ISTEP issues cause delay

Statewide online ISTEP+ testing continued to malfunction for the second day Tuesday, leading to a reduction in the amount of students taking the test today in Jay School Corporation and around the state.
Resurfacing glitches led to a suspension at noon Tuesday of statewide online testing, which will restart today.
Wood Barwick, assistant superintendent of Jay School Corporation, has faith that the test results won’t be affected as long as the glitches don’t distract students.
“We’re not concerned with the integrity or validity of the test,” said Barwick. “We’re worried about the students’ reaction.”
Jay School Corporation has extended testing until Friday so that schools only test half of their usual number of students throughout the day to deter malfunctions, as was recommended by the Indiana Department of Education.
The DOE has also extended the deadline for completing the testing to May 15 to make up for any time lost.
Barwick has dealt with glitches before and believes history shows it won’t affect scores negatively.
“We had disruptions last year, and we had the best testing results ever,” said Barwick. “This is not new for us.”
Barwick hasn’t heard any local feedback from parents or students on the issue but says that the goal, for now, is just to finish.
“We’ve prepared all year for this,” said Barwick. “We’ll keep on until we finish it.”
Statewide, parents and teachers are asking for responsibility to be taken by CTB/McGraw-Hill, the test’s vendor which has a 4-year $95 million contract with the state to proctor the test, and are hearing no direct response.
For Barwick, there’s always a last resort, away from a monitor and keyboard. “If they can’t solve it, we’ll go back…to pen and paper,” said Barwick.[[In-content Ad]]