Board balks at ISTEP numbers

BERNE — Indiana’s standardized testing system for public schools is a mess, South Adams School Board members agreed Tuesday night.
“I don’t have any confidence in the validity of the ISTEP scores,” superintendent Scott Litwiller told the board.
Litwiller said preliminary South Adams ISTEP scores show a significant dip, as do ISTEP scores statewide.
“The assessment test seems to have no end of issues,” he said. “Much has already been said and written about the politics, the timeline, the delivery and the delays. … History tells us that whenever there is a change in the content and design of high-stakes tests, scores will drop the first few years. It takes time for the curriculum to catch up and align to new standards.”
Board president Arlene Amstutz suggested that some officials at the state level need to take a competency test of their own.
“It’s messed up,” she said.
“They keep fiddling with things,” said board member John Mann.
Because ISTEP scores are a factor in teacher evaluations, they have an impact on the annual teacher performance bonuses.
Meanwhile the Indiana General Assembly has required that the annual performance bonus to teachers make a distinction between “effective” and “highly effective” teachers.
But because of the lack of confidence in ISTEP, the board agreed with Litwiller’s recommendation to limit the difference in performance bonus to a symbolic $1.
Mann said he could see the need for a more significant difference in the size of bonuses, but that under the circumstances a token difference makes sense.
“I think this year you’re right,” he said.
Teachers who are evaluated as needing improvement or being ineffective receive no performance bonus.
Litwiller said preliminary ISTEP scores show a drop of about 20 to 30 percent compared to the previous year, which he attributed to the state’s constant tinkering with the ISTEP process.
“What matters most still matters most: Student development,” said Litwiller.
In other business, board members Julie Mansfield, Landon Patterson, John Buckingham, Mitch Sprunger, Amy Orr, Amstutz and Mann:
•Learned that work on the bus wash bay is progressing and may be done before the board’s December meeting.
•Received an update on the system’s eLearning program development. Two on-site practice days are planned, one in December and one in January.
•Heard a report from teacher Josh Roby about a marine biology trip by seven students to the Florida Keys this fall.
•Accepted a conflict of interest disclosure statement from Orr in connection with advertising to be placed in a regional travel publication in which she has a financial stake.
•Accepted the resignations of special education aide Verena Sutton and assistant swim coach Taylor Turner.
•Hired Kaylea Konger as a special education aide, Kristin Brown and Sarah Ellenberger as cheerleading coaches and Chris Stutzman as a volunteer basketball coach.
•Approved a leave for Lana Shoaf so the family can travel to Uganda to complete an adoption.
•Authorized Litwiller to go forward with hiring a migrant recruiter.