Truth Summary
The Indiana State Board of Education is expected to vote on recommended ISTEP passing scores at its meeting tomorrow. On average, the passing rates would dropby 16 percentage points on English tests and about 24 percentage points in math if the board approves the recommended cut-off scores.
Those dips are significantly deeper than typical score changes have been year to year. But Institute for Quality Education President Betsey Wiley said in a statement that with a move to a new test, that’s not unheard of.
“Indiana raised the bar for students by increasing its academic standards to better position our next generation for success after high school,” Wiley said. “When states transition to new and more rigorous academic standards, a drop in scores is expected. The decline Indiana saw is not unusual or a cause for panic – other states transitioning to new academic standards saw similar or larger reductions in assessment scores.”
