Is Second Grade Too Early To Take A State Test?

A common complaint among parents today is that their kids take way too many tests.

There are multiple sittings for state assessments, along with college entrance exams in high school – not to mention the unit tests students already take in different classes.

And since the spring of 2011, kids in Indiana have also taken the IREAD 3, an evaluation given as part of a reading deficiency remediation plan. Right now, it’s students in third grade who take that assessment.

Now, one senator has proposed what she sees as a remedy for all the testing. Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem, wrote Senate Bill 169, which would move the IREAD assessment to second grade.

Houchin says this will alleviate the stresses of testing for third graders, who take the ISTEP+ for the first time that year, too.

Senate Bill 169 would move the IREAD-3 test from third to second grade. (Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Education/Flickr)

Houchin’s bill only adds to controversy surrounding IREAD-3.

Currently, every third grader has two chances to pass the high-stakes exam. Students who don’t pass on their first try in March are given the chance to pass a retake after a few months of remediation work. Students who don’t pass on second attempt have to retake third grade versions of the ISTEP+ and IREAD exams the following school year.

Some state officials argue this could lead to students being held back from entering fourth grade, despite language in the law establishing the test that calls for holding students back only “as a last resort.”

Others say second grade is too early to begin testing. Hoosier students don’t start taking the ISTEP+ test until third grade. Here’s a post from the Indiana Coalition for Public Education:

Even though some teachers may perceive this as a fairly small change, others will see it as huge and unwarranted.  It would put second graders and second grade teachers into the pressured milieu of the testing culture that currently starts at third grade.  Inevitably, second grade IREAD scores if available would become data points to compare schools in the grand competitive marketplace of parental choice that we now have in Indiana.  Inevitably, second grade IREAD scores if available would become factors in the evaluation and compensation decisions for second grade teachers […] [T]his is not a change we need to make in a complex year devoted to implementing new standards and new assessments.

What do state education officials have to say? Chalkbeat Indiana‘s Shaina Cavazos found conflicting reports about the Indiana Department of Education’s stance on the bill:

Houchin said state Superintendent Glenda Ritz was among those who told her that the test could be given in second grade, as students learn reading skills in first and second grade. But Ritz’s lobbyist, John Barnes, said she would oppose the bill.

“We feel like it’s not developmentally appropriate to do high-stakes testing like this below third grade,” Barnes said.

According to a fiscal impact statement from the Legislative Services Agency, if this bill took effect, the state would have to test students in Grades 2 and 3 during the first testing cycle. The current contract for the IREAD-3 assessment is approximately $1.2 million, so testing two grades’ worth of students would cost the state an additional $1.2 million.

Last year, IDOE data showed a slight increase in IREAD pass rates – about 86 percent of students passed, up from 84 the previous year.