Indiana’s new ILEARN test scores remain stagnant
New state standardized test results show little to no progress among Hoosier students in grades 3-8, signaling a continued struggle to reverse learning loss following the pandemic.
New state standardized test results show little to no progress among Hoosier students in grades 3-8, signaling a continued struggle to reverse learning loss following the pandemic.
An option for schools to divvy up portions of Indiana’s ILEARN exams was approved by state lawmakers at the end of the 2024 legislative session and will change how thousands of Hoosier students are tested.
More than four out of five third graders—just under 82%—passed the Indiana reading exam, the IREAD, in 2023. That’s several percentage points below the passing rate from 2019, when 87.3% of all students passed the test.
Less than a third of Hoosier students passed both the math and English sections of ILEARN, the Indiana Department of Education reported Wednesday.
Indiana high schoolers increased their Advanced Placement scores to pre-pandemic norms in 2022, according to preliminary data released by the College Board.
Scores released Monday from the most recent National Assessment Educational Progress—“the nation’s report card”—reflect unprecedented and not unexpected declines affecting students in virtually every state and every region of the country.
An increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT—showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.
Indiana students had small improvements in their English and math scores, with standardized test results released Wednesday indicating a tentative bright spot following years of pandemic-disrupted learning.
The Scholastic Aptitude Test will move from paper and pencil to a digital format, administrators announced Tuesday, saying the shift will boost the SAT’s relevancy as more colleges make standardized tests optional for admission.
The practice of rematching students with teachers over two years led to stronger classroom relationships, which in turn led to a small but notable increase in math and reading scores, the study found.
The gap in passing rates on state tests between white and Black students grew to 25.5 percentage points last spring from 2019.
Results of the annual ILEARN state tests released Wednesday show that 28.6% of students statewide in grades 3 through 8 tested proficient in both English and math. In 2019, the last time the test was given, 37.1% passed.
Because of state action earlier this year and federal waivers approved this week. However, poor results won’t affect accountability measurements such as school A-F grades, teacher evaluations, or identifying low-performing schools for intervention.
The decision means that schools will have to find ways to safely administer tests to tens of millions of students, many of whom are still learning remotely.
The College Board announced Tuesday it will discontinue those assessments. Citing the coronavirus crisis, officials said the pandemic has “accelerated a process already underway at the College Board to simplify our work and reduce demands on students.”
Without an exemption approved last month, most schools would have received a D or an F. That would have affected teacher’s evaluations, and therefore pay, and put many schools on the path to state intervention.
Indiana legislators have voted to end the mandatory use of student standardized test results in teacher evaluations, dropping a requirement long opposed by teachers.
Teachers have long objected to the requirement, and bill sponsor Republican Rep. Tony Cook of Cicero said removing it acknowledges the trouble with measuring teacher effectiveness based on a single student exam.
The university’s Board of Trustees recently approved the policy change, which will allow each of its nine campuses to opt out of requiring prospective students to submit test scores.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the overall national results demonstrated a “student achievement crisis” that can’t be fixed by pouring more money into the traditional public school system.