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Leising set to file bills to address ILEARN scores and school accountability grades

Leising set to file bills to address ILEARN scores and
school accountability grades

In recent months, my office has received concerns from administrators, teachers, parents and students about our state’s educational standards and testing requirements – most specifically, the Indiana Learning Evaluation Assessment Readiness Network (ILEARN) and the accountability grades associated with the assessment.

This August, the Indiana Department of Education announced only 37.1% of students in grades 3-8 passed the inaugural ILEARN exam. This is the first time that more than half of students failed the state’s standardized test.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development, I am deeply troubled by these statistics and empathize with many of the concerns brought forth.

As a result, I have drafted two bills that I will file for the 2020 legislative session.

The first bill I plan to file will hold schools across Indiana harmless in light of their ILEARN results. If no action is taken, such results would negatively impact teacher pay and school accountability grades. I expect a measure like this to advance during session given the public support announced by state leaders for such action.

The second bill I plan to file will decouple ILEARN scores from teacher evaluations for the 2019-2020 academic year – ensuring teachers aren’t held accountable for the drop in scoring. In addition, the bill will require school districts to base no more than 5% of ILEARN scoring on future teacher evaluations beginning in the 2020-2021 school year.

I remain committed to improving educational standards in Indiana.

As always, I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this topic or others that I can address at Senator.Leising@iga.in.gov or by calling 800-382-9467.

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