How Does ISTEP+ Actually Work?

Background

Established in 1987, the ISTEP+ test is the primary standardized test the Indiana Department of Education and other state leaders use to assess the performance of both students and schools. Districts administer the test yearly to all students in grades 3-8. The assessment focuses on the core learning areas of English language arts and mathematics. Some grade levels also feature additional tests in science or social studies.

Maximum and passing scores vary depending on the grade level and test. While results are provided to students and parents, and can be used to identify students in need of remediation, the primary focus of the test is as an indicator of overall school performance.

ISTEP+ is modified regularly by the Indiana State Department of Education and is now exclusively conducted in a digital format.

Charter and accredited private schools are required to participate in ISTEP+ testing.

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April 29, 2013

Several Schools Suspend ISTEP+ For Day After Glitch Slows Online Tests

A "red flag" message on the CTB/McGraw Hill status page for the online ISTEP+ exams on Monday, April 29.

UPDATED, 5:15 p.m. — Multiple Indiana school districts, including Indianapolis Public Schools and South Bend Community Schools, suspended ISTEP+ testing for the day after students experienced problems with the testing website. StateImpact confirmed with representatives at MSD Wayne Township, Brownsburg Community Schools and Culver Community Schools that students there won’t continue testing today. A representative of Fort [...]

March 27, 2013

Calling ISTEP+ Cheating Allegations False, Ousted Teacher Sues Former District

Fort Wayne parent Kim Morken has been collecting documents to try and clear the name of a Southwest Allen County Schools teacher.

A Fort Wayne-area teacher who resigned amid accusations she fed students answers to ISTEP+ questions is now suing her former district.

March 11, 2013

‘Teaching To The Test’: A Problem Worth Fixing? Or Not A Problem At All?

The sign outside a Greene County school encourages students as ISTEP+ testing gets underway.

There’s an oft-repeated critique of the education policy overhaul Indiana’s seen in recent years. An increased emphasis on exam scores, the line goes, has created a “one-size-fits-all accountability system [that] pressures school districts to spend an inordinate amount of time teaching to the test” — a charge many testing supporters call unfair. One scholar at [...]

March 7, 2013

Pal-Item: How Weather-Related School Closings Affect ISTEP Testing

From the Richmond Palladium-Item: Despite Wednesday’s widespread closings of area schools, local educators still expect most students to complete the administration of Indiana’s high-stakes standards exam, the ISTEP, by the end of this week. Indiana schools actually have until March 13 to finish the applied skills, or the written part, of the exam. The testing [...]

November 29, 2012

How Much We Spend On Statewide Testing — In Indiana & Nationwide

The U.S. spends an estimated $1.7 billion on standardized testing — and the number could be lowered if states worked together, one expert argues.

July 30, 2012

What Role Should Tests Play In Judging Indiana Schools?

“Hoosiers really need to have a conversation about testing” and what role it should play in Indiana classrooms, Indy Star education reporter Scott Elliott wrote earlier this month.

July 17, 2012

Why Indiana May Need To Tighten Rules That Govern Online Schools

Students at Indiana’s online schools did not fare as well as their peers on a statewide standardized test, writes Kate Jacobson of the Indianapolis Star: This past week, the state released scores on its ISTEP standardized test given to all students in Grades 3-8. All three Hoosier Academies schools had pass rates lower than the [...]

June 29, 2012

Why It Might Not Be A Smooth Transition To Online Standardized Testing After All

Wyoming provides a cautionary tale to states and school districts making the move to online standardized testing, writes Jill Barshay of the Hechinger Report: Online testing was such a debacle that voters threw the state superintendent of education out of office and the state sued Pearson, the company hired to administer the test. (The state [...]

May 18, 2012

Two Indiana Districts Investigating Possible Breeches Of Testing Rules

A student writing at East Side Intermediate School in Anderson.

Local school administrators in two separate districts are now investigating whether strict rules designed to keep statewide standardized testing secure were breeched at two Indiana schools, StateImpact confirmed Friday. Officials at the Indiana Department of Education have been informed of the alleged security breeches, spokesperson Stephanie Sample says — one at North Central High School [...]

April 23, 2012

Q&A: Why Downplaying The Common Core Could Be A Bad Idea

Kathleen Porter-Magee studies the state academic standards for the Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank that generally supports vouchers, charter schools and the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. (We wrote about that last week.) She, like many education policy wonks, has her reservations about the Common Core. She worries the new standardized tests [...]