Fewer Than Half Of Hoosier Students Pass ILEARN Exam; See Local School Results

A new test and new college and career readiness standards are blamed for a large drop in the number of students passing English and math portions of the test.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - Indiana educators and lawmakers are reacting after the release of results from the 2019 ILEARN exam.

The new test replacing Indiana's old ISTEP exam was administered to 500,000 Indiana 3rd through 8th graders last spring. It was the first time students took the exam, which is based on new college and career-ready education standards. The test is computer adaptive, meaning questions change for each student depending on how they answered previous questions.

State officials had known the exam pass rates for at least a couple weeks, but the Indiana State Board of Education voted to release them publicly Wednesday.

Fewer than half of Hoosier students in grades 3 through 8 passed either the mathematics or English/language arts portions of the test. The statewide rate of students exceeding proficiency standards on the math test was only 47.8 percent. In English/language arts, just 47.9 percent of students passed.

Both figures are down more than 10 percentage points from the final ISTEP exam which was given for the final time in 2018 to 3rd through 8th graders.

ILEARN pass rates varied widely across southeastern Indiana schools. Public schools in Dearborn, Franklin, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland counties had English pass rates ranging from 71.5 percent to 31.6 percent. In math, local pass rates at schools were 75.2 percent at the high end and 23.4 percent on the low end.

Pass rates for southeastern Indiana schools and school corporations are listed below.

Governor Eric Holcomb and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are seeking to hold schools harmless for the exam results on their A-F state report cards. If letter grades were given to schools using the new test results, more than half of them would be stamped with a D or F rating, compared to only about 15 percent last year.

The State Board of Education voted Wednesday to delay school letter grades until lawmakers can act.

“In line with Gov. Holcomb’s call to hold harmless, the Board will not place school letter grades until the General Assembly takes the appropriate action to ensure this year’s ILEARN scores do not have an adverse impact on schools and teachers,” said board chair B.J. Watts. “Once action has been taken, the Board will hold a special meeting to assign those grades.”

RELATED: State Superintendent Asks Ind. Lawmakers To Hold Schools Harmless For Exam Results

Standardized testing has long been the subject of much criticism by educators. Locally, most public school superintendents are lamenting the constantly shifting test and education standards.

Sunman-Dearborn Community Schools superintendent Andrew Jackson says in his four years as superintendent there, he has seen two sets of standards, three testing vendors, three versions of the test, and now potentially two hold-harmless school grades.

“With each change, the system has become less reliable, less valid, and less useful,” said Jackson.

With Jackson citing doubts ILEARN does not show the ability of students and teachers and student growth, Sunman-Dearborn Community Schools are looking elsewhere for those insights.

“We administer the NWEA MAP formative assessment due to the fact it is valid, reliable, timely, and consistent - all the key components of a quality assessment and all the components ILEARN has proven not to be. We will use the NWEA MAP data for the intended use of a standardized test - to improve student learning,” explained Jackson.

Switzerland County Schools superintendent Rod Hite believes the test looks at the wrong indicators to measure school success and teacher performance. The test, he says, should be used to identify individual student needs and inform instruction.

“As I look at the current scores and rankings I see the drop due to multiple transitions in just a short few years but I also see schools throughout the state spending a large amount of effort on individualizing student success. At Switzerland County School Corporation I know parents and students are seeing great strides in what we can do as a school over the course of just a year. As we look at state averages and area schools we will look to share best practices to improve, but I'm confident in the changes already taking place to improve our community through the hard working efforts by our teachers and students daily,” said Hite.

Educators are not the only ones saying high stakes testing should not be used to determine a school’s funding or teacher performance bonuses. Indiana Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane (D-Anderson) has echoed that sentiment.

“Let’s let our teachers teach and our students learn, and if changes must be made, the legislature needs to make a better effort to listen to those who have actually spent time in the classroom,” said Lanane, calling on the Republican-controlled legislature to refrain from “changing the rules in the middle of the game” for students and educators.

Despite concerns about pass rates, others say there is still good information to be gleaned from the ILEARN results. Rob Moorhead, superintendent at South Ripley Community Schools in Versailles, says they look at comparison data to see how South Ripley students performed in regard to state averages and other schools. 

“In many areas that I have studied to date we compare very favorably, and our students and staff are to be commended for that,” said Moorhead. “For example, we have the third highest passing rate of all public schools in the state for Grade 6 E/LA.  Additionally, when looking at the disaggregated results by socioeconomic classification, we have the second highest passing percentage of all public schools in the state for Grades 3-8 E/LA for students in the free and reduced lunch category.  That speaks volumes about the effort our teachers and staff are putting in to help all students succeed.”

Moorhead also supports the idea of holding schools harmless from the exam results.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick said the 2019 ILEARN results do not provide a true reflection of school performance. In addition to hold-harmless, she said the Indiana Department of Education is proposing legislative action including a pause on intervention timelines for all schools and to provide the State Board of Education with emergency rulemaking authority to review and reestablish the state accountability system.

“The success and wellbeing of our students, educators, and schools are dependent upon these actions,” said McCormick.

2019 Southeastern Indiana School ILEARN Exam Pass Rates

   data source: Indiana Department of Education

Batesville Community School Corporation

Franklin County Community School Corporation

Jac-Cen-Del Community School Corporation

Lawrenceburg Community School Corporation

Milan Community School Corporation

Rising Sun-Ohio County Community School Corporation

South Dearborn Community School Corporation

South Ripley Community School Corporation

Sunman-Dearborn Community School Corporation

Switzerland County School Corporation

Southeastern Indiana private schools