BY CHARLEE BEASOR
CNHI
— ISTEP results, released this week, show improvement across the board for Hendricks County schools.
Each of the six public school corporations improved upon their scores from last year, with the exception of Plainfield schools, whose scores have been suppressed by the Indiana Department of Education for at least a month due to test processing errors.
Mary Giesting, assistant superintendent charged with curriculum and instruction, said a box of tests from the middle school was mislabeled and sent to the wrong destination.
“It was not scored. It is currently at the scorer’s as we speak. They will not release the scores until after the re-score window has closed, so we should know by the end of July,” Giesting said. “We’re very confident the scores will be good. I’m sure it’s all going to in the end be OK. It’s difficult as teachers have worked so hard.”
Though the Plainfield overall scores were suppressed, the elementary school scores were released and show the hard work of teachers, parents, and students paid off.
“In language arts, all three of our elementaries did astoundingly well. It certainly is a tribute to a lot of the initiatives that we have implemented,” Giesting said.
North West Hendricks Schools topped the charts overall with 84 percent of their students passing both the math and the English/language arts portions of the test.
“We’re really pleased, excited about it. I sent e-mails to all the staff, congratulating them, we’re pretty excited,” said North West Hendricks Interim-Superintendent Rusty King.
In the English/language arts portion, the schools averaged 89 percent, with 90 percent passing math. The improvement in the schools is up from 77 percent passing both sections in 2009.
King said they have continued to focus on the state standards.
“We really key in on the state standards. We do a lot of different activities as far as differentiation of the curriculum to meet the kids’ needs,” he said. “And, it always goes back to we’re small. Our teachers know our kids.”
King also said they have focused on curriculum mapping and assessments within the schools.
NorthSalem Elementary School and Pittsboro Elementary School were two of the four elementary schools in the county to have 90 percent of students pass both math and English. Plainfield’s Van Buren Elementary and Brentwood Elementary schools were the other two schools to achieve the feat.
Overall, 35 schools in the state achieved the 90 percent mark, compared to 21 schools in 2009.
It wasn’t just Hendricks County schools that showed marked improvement. Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett said schools throughout the state improved.
“Achieving increases of 4 to 6 percent across the board for students in a majority of Hoosier schools is a tremendous step forward, and I extend sincere congratulations to all of our high-performing and improving schools for their hard work and tenacity,” Bennett said in a press release. “Our goal is that 90 percent of the state’s students are passing both the math and English/language arts portions of the ISTEP+ by 2012, and I believe our teaches, parents, and communities will help Indiana’s students rise to the occasion.”
Giesting said that although the test scores give schools a benchmark for evaluating their schools, they shouldn’t “get caught up in how we perform.”
“It’s important for everybody to understand that student learning is a moving target. It’s a picture in time. It’s a two-day picture. One day for the applied skills, one more for multiple choice,” she said. “Sometimes too often we look at these scores, and people jump to conclusions. But it’s just a picture of the journey at that time.”
She also said parents should be happy to have their children in Hendricks County schools.
“If you are a family living in Hendricks County, be assured to know the students are getting as good an education they can get anywhere,” she said.
Complete scores were:
Click on the link to open an interactive spreadsheet of the compiled ISTEP numbers for Hendricks County schools.
charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com
