INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana State Board of Education will allow Indiana school leaders to decide if they want to make up a standardized student literacy test this fall.
The board voted 9-1 in a virtual meeting Wednesday to allow schools to weigh if they want fourth-grade students to retake the Indiana Reading and Determination, or IREAD-3, exam this fall. The test, normally administered to third-graders, was canceled when Indiana schools were forced to close as the COVID-19 pandemic began in the spring.
Indiana State Board of Education Chair B.J. Watts said the exam is valuable in helping schools determine student’s literacy needs. But he also said the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic warrant giving school districts a choice as their buildings reopen this fall.
“Making its administration optional enables school districts to make the best decision locally as they consider their resources amidst all these uncertainties,” Watts said.
The only member of the board to vote no on the resolution was Jennifer McCormick, state superintendent of public instruction. McCormick recently pushed to do away with the IREAD-3 test because schools administer too many expensive tests. McCormick has also argued the data that IREAD-3 gathers can be collected through Indiana’s ILEARN test, which covers multiple subjects.
“We do spend a lot of money in testing,” McCormick said to the board. “We have a lot of resources available that can give us the data we’re looking for, for that baseline, that we already spend quite a bit of money on.”
The vast majority of the state board are appointed by the governor — eight of the 11 board members. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb recently appointed Erika Dilosa to be the newest member of the board, replacing long-time member Tony Walker. Walker had served on the board since 2011.
Dilosa worked as the director of special education at 21st Century Charter School in Gary and Gary Middle College East and West. In a press release circulated by the state board, Dilosa said her enthusiasm for helping students with special needs began after learning that her child was on the autism spectrum.
