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Last updated on Friday, March 6, 2015
(UNDATED) - As schools continue giving the first portion of ISTEP, one administrator says he and his teachers are spending more time trying to keep from excessively worrying about the exam.
"I have absolutely had more students (this year) express to me their concern that the ISTEP is tough, that they don't think they are doing very well, and that they are going to be retained," said Jim Bever (BEE-ver), principal of Greenfield Intermediate School in Hancock County, which serves grades 4-through-6.
Students are generally not held back a grade if they don't pass ISTEP, but Bever believes some students recall the IREAD exam given in third grade - students who fail to demonstrate reading proficiency in that exam can be held back, regardless of their grades in other subjects.
The ISTEP was given this year only days after its length was hurriedly reduced from a total of 12 hours to just under nine hours by State Superintendent Glenda Ritz's office, with approval by the State Board of Education and the General Assembly.
The exam doubled in length for several reasons, in part because pilot questions were added as part of the effort to create a test to replace ISTEP next school year. But the test primarily grew due to Indiana's new academic standards, and Bever says the standards made ISTEP more difficult.
"The questions themselves are not as easy for the students to respond to. As a result, they are not sure exactly how to answer some of the questions, even though we have done a great deal of work preparing them for these types of questions."
That may be why some parents have complained that their children haven't been able to finish some portions of ISTEP in the allotted time this year, which they claim is unlike previous ISTEPs. A English specialist from Willard Elementary School and the Indiana School for the Deaf in Indianapolis also told us the time allotment was reduced for some parts of ISTEP, even though the number of questions was unchanged.
Some of this year's ISTEP questions also contain multiple layers of work, which also may lead to students not answering all questions before time expires.
"It's the first time our students have seen a test that is quite this challenging, and there is a lot of anxiety. Students are worried about their performance", Bever said. He he hopes parents will help him and his teachers reassure kids as best as they can. "All we want them to do is their very best at showing what they know, and we expect nothing more than that out of them. Knowing what they show us on the test, we then move forward to consider how best to respond to their educational needs."
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