Truth Summary
Governor Mike Pence addressed
the issue of suspending accountability back in June of 2014 when Superintendent
Ritz and the Indiana State Teacher’s Association first raised this issue.
According to the letter the Governor released at that time, those responsible
for setting education policy in Indiana are well aware of the concern and stand
ready to “plot a measured and thoughtful course as we transition to a new state
test with new expected performance levels…”.
“Together with top Indiana House
and Senate leaders, our state is dedicated to preserving
strong accountability in our
state. We do not support a pause in accountability as it relates to
delivering A-F grades to
schools, determining intervention strategies in under-performing
schools, or teacher evaluations
that reflect classroom performance. We believe that these
policies are essential to
ensuring that every child has access to a quality school, that our
excellent teachers are rewarded
for the quality outcomes they produce every day for our
students, and that we can
identify our lower performing teachers and provide the support they
need to achieve more in their
classrooms.
I understand that there is a
legitimate concern that the adoption of new standards and the use
of a new test may lead to a
temporary drop in scores that could adversely impact our
students, teachers, and schools.
Under Indiana law, the Education Roundtable and the State
Board of Education have the
statutory authority to set cut scores, which establish the
expected performance level for
any state test. It is our full intent to plot a measured and
thoughtful course as we
transition to a new state test with new expected performance levels,
while at the same time ensuring
the results meaningfully reflect mastery of the standards.
This will ensure that our
students, teachers, and schools are not impacted by what past
experience shows will be a
short-term drop in scores, such as occurred when Indiana moved
from a fall to a spring test in
2008-2009.” Governor Mike Pence, June 13, 2014
