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State board addresses accountability and testing in final meeting of 2015
12/03/2015

 

SBOE.jpgThe State Board of Education convened its last meeting of 2015 on Dec. 2. As the 2016 General Assembly session quickly approaches, a number of issues are still undecided. However, some progress was made for Hoosier students.

 

A-F School Accountability Grades

Preliminary grades have been released to schools under embargo as of Dec. 1, but the official release will not occur until Dec. 31. The final approval of school grades will then take place at the Jan. 19 state board meeting. The grading delays are a result of ISTEP glitches during the past testing period. [UPDATE: Some school letter grades have been leaked, thereby breaking the embargo. StateImpact covers the story.]

 

Annual Performance Reports

Schools are required by statute to compile and report a significant amount of data points to the Department of Education in the form of an Annual Performance Report (APR), comprising a school report card that is published in local newspapers along with school websites.

 

Several changes to these APR reports were recommended to the state board for a vote, namely the deletion of average class size reporting.

 

ISTA testified in strong support of maintaining class size reporting – not just aggregate schoolwide data collection, but class-by-class statistics. ISTA has historically advocated for and continues to advocate for smaller class sizes.

 

Following ISTA testimony regarding the importance of smaller classes for kids, parents and educators, the board voted unanimously to send the proposal back to the data collection subcommittee for further review. The subcommittee agreed to maintain class size reporting and went further agreeing to look at better metrics for per pupil ratios that will help inform schools, educators and families with more accurate data by individual school. ISTA has continued to advocate for class size reduction, and today marks a large stride in progress towards that goal.

 

School Accountability

The board is in the process of approving new growth metrics for state A-F grades. Students will be largely assessed based on year-to-year growth, rather than the original model of peer comparisons. The board is responsible for determining the point distributions and ensuring statistical accuracy for test score comparisons. Currently, 40 percent of student accountability is based on test scores and 60 percent on multiple measures. Under the new A-F framework, it will be a 50/50 split based on individual student scores and year-to-year growth. The Board will vote on point distribution tables in January, followed by a 30-day public comment period with publication scheduled for March.