Pence, legislators open to ditching ISTEP for cheaper alternative
Two bills already have passed the Senate that push the state in the direction of a national test.
Two bills already have passed the Senate that push the state in the direction of a national test.
Indiana students might be off the hook from a proposal asking they pass a civics test to graduate from high school after a bill to require it was defeated in the state Senate on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 566, authored by Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, and Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, would halt an effort to create a new ISTEP, instead directing the state to use a national test beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
Hardly any teachers got low ratings despite major changes to toughen up state’s teacher evaluation system in 2011.
In 2013, Indiana legislators passed a bill with a potentially game-changing idea in mind: require high schools to figure out which students aren’t on track for college level work and get them the extra help they need.
Wide-ranging recommendations by the Indiana Board of Education also ask the Legislature for more funding and a quicker path to take over schools, and even school districts.
Some parents complained the move, which will bring more International Baccalaureate students to Shortridge, puts the interests of affluent north-side families ahead of those of other families.
IT entrepreneur Steve Braun, the new director of the Department of Workforce Development, is leading the effort to harness data to figure out what skills kids will need to succeed in the workplaces of the future.