Pence: Indiana won’t delay test-based accountability in 2015

Indiana must keep school accountability  in place in 2015 even if an overhauled ISTEP test results in lower student scores, Gov. Mike Pence said today.

“Indiana will not go backwards when it comes to measuring performance in our schools on my watch,” he said in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We do not support a pause in accountability as it relates to delivering A to F grades to schools, determining intervention strategies in under-performing schools, or teacher evaluations that reflect classroom performance.”

His statements fired back at State Superintendent Glenda Ritz, who on Monday wrote a newspaper column advocating for holding off accountability for a year to give teachers and students a chance to adapt to new standards and tests that are expected to be tougher than the current state exams. Last week, Ritz told the Indiana State Board of Education she had begun discussions with federal education officials about that option.

Ritz’s spokesman declined comment, saying her position was clear in the column.

Pence noted in his letter that he had recently spoken with Duncan. Indiana must report to the U.S. Department of Education by June 30 how it will put in place new standards and testing next school year, or it could lose control over millions of dollars for schools.

That’s because Indiana in 2012 signed a “waiver,” with federal officials promising to raise its standards and put into place tougher tests by 2015. In return, Indiana was released from looming sanctions of the federal No Child Left Behind Law. Most states have received waivers from rules now widely considered to be too tough that would have required all children to be testing on grade level by this year.

In early May, the U.S. Department of Education put Indiana on notice, giving 60 days for the state to show how it would meet its waiver promises.

Pence wrote that he believed Indiana could account for the expected dip in test scores while maintaining accountability.

“Our administration is firmly committed to maintaining student assessment and teacher and school accountability without interruption,” he wrote. “Testing gives us an accurate picture of how our students are doing and what help they need in the classroom.”

He also hinted that legislative leaders are behind him.

“Together with top Indiana House and Senate leaders, our state is dedicated to preserving strong accountability in our state,” he wrote.

Losing the waiver could block a portion of federal aid the schools receive: more than $230 million annually to help poor children.

Requests to federal officials for an extra year to allow teachers to adapt to new state standards approved in April before being tested under the higher expectations — with more advanced and complicated test questions — have been denied, Ritz told the state board last week.

Ritz argued that lower test scores, driven by higher expectations rather than poor performance of students, would be unfair to teachers and schools.

Teachers’ pay raises, and their job security, are decided in part based on whether their students see their scores go up or down. Schools that are rated a D or F for low test scores face ever-increasing scrutiny and then sanctions if they don’t get their scores to rise.

The state board is expected to meet next week to approve a plan aimed at securing an extension of the waiver but a meeting time has not yet been set.