State Board To Continue Testing Talks Wednesday

It’s only been a few weeks since the last State Board of Education meeting, but plenty has happened in that time to provide board members with topics for discussion.

One item sure to take center stage: testing.

The subject received a majority of the attention at the board’s March meeting – the first chance members had to discuss proposed contracts for the companies the Department of Administration recommended to create different parts of the state’s assessment system.

Members of the State Board of Education will meet Wednesday in Indianapolis. (Photo Credit: Rachel Morello/StateImpact Indiana)

The total estimated cost of those contracts – about $134 million – ruffled some feathers, and although State Superintendent Glenda Ritz generally agreed with board colleagues that the price tag was too high, it became evident that finding a compromise might pose problems.

In response, board member Sarah O’Brien released a proposal to cut costs and trim time off the test. She will present her resolution to the full board Wednesday, which she says will come in at around $86 million.

Ritz put out her own set of recommendations just a few days later, in an updated budget presentation for the Department of Education before the Senate Appropriations Committee. She told the group she could cut costs even further – down to about $75 million – with the elimination of IREAD-3 and other annual tests.

The board will need to decide Wednesday under what criteria they will authorize the development of the 2015-16 ISTEP+, a process that many would like to see happen as soon as possible to avoid the problems the state experienced this spring.

Here’s a look at other items the board will take up:

• ISTEP+ study: The group will vote on a resolution to conduct a study determining the validity of the current ISTEP+ test. This will determine whether the state can use student results as reliable data points for things like A-F school accountability grades and teacher evaluations.
• School turnaround: Indianapolis Public Schools will likely see finalized plans for two separate schools over which the district intends to regain control – Arlington High School and Emma Donnan Middle School. The former, although remaining under board jurisdiction, will be operated by IPS. As for Emma Donna, IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee requested last month that the board approve a partnership between his district and Charter Schools USA to transform the struggling school into a new K-8 campus.

You can watch the meeting live beginning Wednesday at 9 a.m.