LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Every public school in Indiana is being introduced to a new way of testing with many tweaks designed to lower the stress of a standardized test.
Indiana's learning evaluation readiness network (ILEARN) replaces Indian's Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) as the Hoosier state's newest standardized test.
Exams are underway in classrooms statewide this week in reading, math, science and social studies for grades 3-8 and some high school sophomores. The schedule varies by school district.
"It is high-stakes," Northhaven Elementary School Principal Laura Morris said. "We get a letter grade based on how our school does."
Morris' Jeffersonville, Ind., school started with fifth grade exams last week, piloting the new testing system, and plans to begin third- and fourth-grade testing this week.
Among the changes, ILEARN tests are all taken online. Previously, half the ISTEP was a written exam. Timing also changed both in terms of when the exam is given, moving portions from February and March to a longer testing block after more material is covered in April, and the elimination of time limits taking the exam.
"I hate walking around watching kids stress, and you can see their shoulders rising, you can see them anxious, you can see them sweating over questions and worried about time," said Emily Carpenter, a fifth-grade teacher at Northaven Elementary School. "And that was completely not a factor this year."
Educators say ILEARN is more adaptive, meaning the online testing system can adjusts the difficulty of a question based on a student's prior answers. It's also all on grade level — no more quizzing material from a grade above to determine whether a child is a high level achiever.
"That just kills your confidence, because that could be question No. 2 on the test, and a student thinks, 'I don't know this,'" Morris said.
At Northaven, much like schools all across Indiana, there is tremendous pressure to perform. Bright pink signs are taped to classrooms doors warning of interrupting while testing is in progress. The normal hustle and echoes of a school filled with children are silenced by focus.
In recent years, Indiana did away with Common Core, wrote new standards and released a highly criticized new ISTEP that tanked scores throughout the state. These results set school and school districts' grades, and in some communities, decide whether a teacher's receives bonus pay.
"It's like to see how much you've learned throughout the year," said Juan Carrillo, a fifth-grader at Northhaven. "It's all a review."
The 12-year-old's remarks provide an example of how teachers have tried to calm student's nerves with much on the line.
"Instead of preaching about or failing, we just want every student to grow," Carpenter said. "We just want them to grow a little from last year. Show us they learned a little bit more this year than last year."
Carpenter is candid, saying there's pressure on faculty as well.
In other words, ILEARN is not just a test of what the students know. In many ways, it's a grade for the teachers too.
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