Truth Summary
According to Indiana rule, a student must be enrolled in a school for 162 days for their test scores to count toward the school’s letter grade for that year. The ISTEP+ test is given in the spring each year. Therefore, students who are figured into a school’s accountability grade must be enrolled 162 days out of a 180-day school year AND be present for the ISTEP+ exam.
Indiana has placed schools in performance categories for years with few complaints. However, in 2012 schools started receiving easy-to-understand letter grades. Now it is very apparent to communities how their schools are performing. While we may never have a formula that appeases everyone, communities deserve to have some idea of how their local schools are doing when it comes to educating kids.
