SYRACUSE — After a delay of several weeks due to resolving some technical issues, spring 2018 ISTEP+ results were finally released to the public Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 3, by the Indiana Department of Education. Results had originally been planned for release in August but were then delayed due to some graphing and image problems that had to be corrected.

“We are below average,” noted Joy Goshert, assistant superintendent for the Wawasee Community School Corporation, concerning the results for the school corporation.

Third-graders passed the English and language arts portion of the test at a rate of 67.8 percent. And eighth-graders passed the same portion of the test at 63.2 percent. Many of the results, though, were closer to the 50 percent passing range.

For the last several years, Wawasee has relied more on Northwest Evaluation Association testing results “in order to have consistency in data,” Goshert noted. ISTEP+ has been plagued with glitches and other problems causing frustrations for teachers and administrators and they have often questioned the reliability of the test.

ISTEP+ was administered for the last time in the spring of 2018 to grades three through eight. This year those students will take the new ILEARN test.

“This is a brand new assessment and is not just a revision of ISTEP+,” Goshert said. “The English and math portions of the assessment are computer adaptive, meaning students will receive questions based upon how they answer previous questions within a range of difficulty based upon on-grade level standards. Students taking Biology I at Wawasee High School will take ILEARN biology at the end of the course. At Wawasee High School, the majority of those students are ninth grade students.

“Students in grade 10 will take ISTEP+ this school year and students in grades 11-12 who have not yet passed ISTEP+ will retake the assessments (math and-or English language arts) they have not yet passed. The high school guidance department and administrators will also be working with those students on a graduation pathway based upon the Indiana Graduation Pathway requirements.”

Administrators are working with teachers on the ILEARN blueprints and resources, which Goshert noted are much more detailed than they have been for any previous assessments.

“We are pleased to see much more transparency with ILEARN and the quality of resources for schools to use,” she said.

IDOE noted statewide results for ISTEP+ had slight increases in grade eight English and language arts and grade three math, while other areas in grades three through eight remained stable.

Grade 10 will continue to take ISTEP+ through 2022 until the transition to the graduation pathways.