REFORMING SCHOOL TESTING, SUPPORTING LOCAL SCHOOLS – Straight From The Senate

Lawmakers frequently hear from parents and educators that too much time is spent on testing in our schools.

This concern was highlighted earlier this year when the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) unexpectedly announced that the spring ISTEP test would take students as long as 12 hours or more to complete.

State leaders were able to work together to successfully shorten this year’s test, but the lesson was clear: reform is needed.

I am a strong supporter of school accountability, but I believe we need to find a way to simplify and streamline our testing system. This is one aim of Senate Bill 566, which is currently being considered in the General Assembly.

Click to advertise on this website

SB 566 would replace ISTEP and IREAD-3 with one standardized test. While the bill leaves the selection of the new test up to the State Board of Education (SBOE), one possible option is the NWEA assessment, which many school districts voluntarily use already because of its effectiveness in providing quick results that show students’ progress.

This bill also prohibits the SBOE from selecting a new standardized test that would cause Indiana to lose its waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act. This is important since losing our waiver would result in more federal control over our schools, which should be avoided at all costs.

Also, SB 566 continues the current prohibition on using the Common Core State Standards in Indiana, and prohibits the SBOE from ceding the selection of Indiana standards and tests to the federal government or a consortium of states.

In addition to these meaningful testing reforms, the bill contains other components that strive to better serve Indiana’s educators, students and schools.

In an effort to attract people with high-demand skills to the teaching profession, the bill would make college graduates with a science, technology, engineering or math major and a minor or concentration in education eligible for a teaching license.

This bill would also require school corporations to distribute School Performance Grant money as stipends to all effective and highly effective teachers in the district, not just effective and highly effective teachers in the corporation’s best-performing schools. Additionally, half of each teacher’s School Performance Grant stipend would be allowed to become part of their base salary, providing a permanent pay raise, instead of a one-time bonus.

SB 566 would also grant more freedom and flexibility to local schools by allowing any school corporation in the state to designate any of its schools “Innovation Network Schools,” which operate under the same guidelines as charter schools. The “Innovation Network Schools” model was previously only available for Indianapolis Public Schools.

SB 566 passed the Senate last month with strong bipartisan support and is currently before the House of Representatives. As always, you can contact me with your input and questions on this legislation or any other issue before the General Assembly at Senator.Long@iga.in.gov or 800-382-9467.