Rich Van Wyk/Education Reporter
Indianapolis, Jan. 14 - Who will pass? Who will fail? The decision effecting roughly 200,000 students is left largely to 144 teachers from schools all over the state.
Mary Wilhelmus with the Department of Education says, "They are from rich schools, poor schools, middle income schools."
With third, fifth and eighth graders who took a more difficult I-STEP exam this year requiring a new grading scale, teachers will spend four days establishing cut scores. Students who make the cut, pass. Those who don't, fail. The process is secretive, controversial and widely mistrusted.
I-STEP critics accused the state arbitrarily setting scores, relying on people who have no idea what is going on in Indiana classrooms. Even accusing the Department of Education of conspiring with big business to insure there are enough failures and high school dropouts to fill minimum wage jobs.
Pass/fail scores haven't changed since 1996. Although teachers have always been involved, the Department of Education is taking extraordinary efforts to open the process and dispel critics.
"We need people to trust the system," says Janice Combs of Lawrence Township Schools. "This effects hundreds of thousands of Indiana students. We want the best for our students. We want this process to be widely known and widely understood and accepted."
The teachers’ decisions are really recommendations. Ultimately, the State Board of Education will settle the score over who passes and who fails I-STEP.
Once the pass/fail score is set test results will be sent to schools and parents. That should happen in about five weeks. For the first time, students will receive one of three grades; did not pass, pass or pass +, distinguishing students who score exceptionally well on I-STEP.