Wawasee Community School Corporation has been participating
in the required ISTEP+ Multiple-Choice Assessments for students in grades
3-8. Students are taking the assessments
online per the Indiana Department of Education’s direction.
Due to issues on the side of the assessment provider CTB
McGraw-Hill, students across the state of Indiana have experienced connectivity
issues. Many Wawasee students
experienced those issues on Monday, and testing was suspended on Monday
afternoon.
This morning, the Indiana Department of Education sent out a
communication stating they believed the issues had been resolved and asked
schools to resume testing. They also
extended the assessment window to go through May 15, 2013.
At the
beginning of the day today, the testing went well. However, around 11:00 a.m., connectivity
issues occurred again. Here at Wawasee,
we again made the decision to stop testing for the rest of the day.
The Indiana Department of Education sent out a press release
around noon today with a statement from Indiana Superintendent of Public
Instruction Glenda Ritz,
“I am greatly
disappointed to learn that Indiana schools had their ISTEP+ testing interrupted
for a second consecutive day. Like all Hoosier parents, students and
teachers, I find these interruptions frustrating and unacceptable...Because of
these errors, I have instructed the Department of Education to suspend testing
for the remainder of the day. This decision was not made lightly, but was
done to minimize further disruptions for our schools. All of our students
deserve to take a test that is valid, accurate and reliable.”
The entire press release can be found at http://www.doe.in.gov/.
Not all grade levels at Wawasee have started testing. No third graders in the district have started
the online assessments. Some fourth and fifth graders at North Webster School
and Syracuse School have started the assessments. At Milford School, some fourth, seventh and
eighth graders have started testing.
Wawasee Middle School has been having sixth and seventh graders taking
the assessments so far. Schools are
documenting issues that students have had while testing. Students
and staff members have been very flexible in difficult circumstances, and we
commend them for that!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact
your student’s principal.
