“To positively change outcomes for our students, we must act with urgency to chart an innovative path to academic recovery,” Indiana Education Secretary Katie Jenner said.

Monday marked the beginning of the iLearn testing window, which closes May 13.

IDOE is set to release ILEARN results during a July 14 state education board meeting, and officials told WDRB News that preliminary results show declines in English and math. School corporations have been able to disseminate results to parents as they receive them, IDOE officials say.

The release of Indiana school accountability grades had been delayed until a "hold harmless" law took effect in light of poor scores on the first year of ILEARN exams.

House Bill 1001, the two-year "hold harmless" legislation, and House Bill 1002, the teacher evaluation measure, both passed by unanimous votes during a Tuesday committee hearing.

Fifty-three percent of Indiana schools have met or exceeded goals laid out in the Every Students Succeeds Act.

The state will use federal guidelines to identify whether districts and schools are meeting their academic goals to avoid confusion with two separate A-F grades, Indiana Department of Education spokesman Adam Baker said in an email Tuesday.

ILEARN results released Wednesday show that 47.9% of all third- through eighth-grade students in Indiana tested at least proficient in English and 47.8% showed proficiency in math.