ISTEP+ Grades 3-8 Issues

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.