Jim Roberts
Local ILEARN proficiency rates in math and English show little change from 2022, similar to state results.
Overall, 40.7% of Indiana’s third through eighth grade students were proficient — at or above proficiency standards — in English, according to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). Testing results show 40.9% were proficient in math, and 30.6% were proficient in both subjects.
The 2022 results were 41.2% in English, 39.4% in math and 30.2% in both categories.
“If we compare this data to the 2019 standard setting, this does still represent an overall decrease in light of the pandemic,” Chief Academic Officer Charity Flores said during the Indiana State Board of Education’s Wednesday meeting. “So when we set our standards in 2019, compared to the data that we’re seeing now, we’re still about 6% overall below where we were in 2019.”
In 2019, about 48% of Indiana students were proficient in English, and a similar percentage for math, while 37% of students were proficient in both areas.
ILEARN tests proficiency in content standards for English and math in grades three through eight, science in grades four and six, social studies in grade five, and biology in middle and high school.
Within the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., about 40% of students were proficient in English in 2023, and the same was true for math. Results showed 31% of students were proficient in both subjects.
In 2022, 42% of BCSC students were proficient in English, 40% in math, and 31% in both. For 2019, the number of students proficient in English was a little over 50%, and the same was true of math. 41% of students were proficient in both.
BCSC Superintendent Jim Roberts said that school officials are reviewing the 2023 results to understand “all opportunities for improvement.”
“Realizing that ILEARN essentially serves as an end of course assessment, we must, unfortunately, utilize information provided to address student needs in the NEXT school year,” he said in an email. “Given this, we rely on many other academic proficiency and growth measures DURING the school year to provide us with on-time data that leads to real-time instructional adjustments and use of available resources.”
For the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. in 2023, approximately 42% of students were proficient in English, 47% were proficient in math and 35% in both subjects.
The school corporation’s 2022 rates were 42% for English, 48% for math and 33% for both subjects. In 2019, 45% of FRHC students were proficient in English, 57% in math and 41% in both.
The 2023 ILEARN results were released on Wednesday and shared in a presentation at the Indiana State Board of Education meeting that morning, with Flores reporting that almost 99% of third through eighth grade students completed the assessment.
“For every single school corporation across the state, today is a big day,” said Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner. “The data does go public, and you better believe that they’re asking these questions as well, in terms of where are we seeing, getting into those specific correlations and where are we seeing the increases, decreases, so that we can provide that targeted intervention and remediation. It’s a really important question that we should be asking in every community across our state.”
Flores also discussed the latest findings from an academic impact study that the National Center for Assessment has been conducting for the state over the last three years. According to her presentation, academic impact, in this context, is defined as differences in student growth and attainment before and after the pandemic.
“Recovery is defined as returning to where students/student populations would be under ‘normal’ learning conditions,” the presentation stated. “Recovery is not defined as attaining proficiency. Recovery time is dependent upon the degree of academic impact.”
When the study began in 2020-21, state officials believed it would take three to five years for the state to return to pre-pandemic rates for learning and “acceleration”, said Flores.
In 2021-2022, they found that students had “stabilized” and were largely returning to normal rates of learning, but students in some grade levels, content areas or populations had not improved “at the rate needed to recover to pre-pandemic performance,” per Flores’ presentation.
In analyzing the 2023 results and those from the past couple of years, state officials found that the rate of student learning in both English and math is consistent with pre-pandemic, though Flores added that this indicates “stabilization and normalization” rather than “acceleration.”
She also noted that while the overall education system has returned to normal learning rates, this is not true for all student groups. Students who were previously “above proficient” have moved forward and are seeing good academic attainment, but other groups are not stabilizing.
When it comes to English, English Learners and and middle school students have not returned to normal rates of learning, and neither have students who were previously below proficient in both English and math, said Flores. However, Black students and those eligible for free and reduced lunch are stabilizing across all grade levels in both subjects.
“If there’s one key takeaway in the grand scheme of everything that’s stated today, it’s very important to understand that the educational system can return to normal without students returning to normal,” she said. “… Specific conversations and concerted efforts are needed to best support their learning.”
Flores also discussed IDOE’s plans to redesign the ILEARN assessment.
According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, legislation passed during the 2022 session called for a streamlining of academic standards and a change in the frequency of state standardized testing.
“State education leaders said a realignment of the ILEARN assessment to reflect the standards reductions must be completed not later than March 1, 2025,” the Chronicle reported in June. “The board (of education) considered — but has not yet approved — part of the new assessment plan, which includes ‘flexible checkpoints’ for schools to administer ILEARN preparation tests in language arts and math before the typical end-of-year summative tests.”
These checkpoints will be made up of 20 to 25 questions each and are designed to be administered every three months, though schools can test more frequently if they so choose, the Chronicle reported. The results are not reported to the state, with the tests being intended to help teachers and parents see students’ progress throughout the year.
Roberts told the Republic that he is in favor of this plan.
“Even back in 2017, I was a part of a panel created by the state of Indiana through the legislative process to review assessments,” he said. “And it ended up with the ILEARN one. … We talked a lot about expanding the assessment so that it was given multiple times over the year and made shorter so that the information from the assessment could be used by teachers in real time.”
The information provided by this change will benefit both teachers and students, he said.
“We will have the option for schools to opt in to that new test design beginning in 24-25, with a full statewide implementation in 25-26,” Flores said at Wednesday’s board of education meeting. “And the general outline is noted here, where we’re creating some specific checkpoints over time to best inform instruction along the way and then providing a final and shortened summative at the end of the year.”
Jenner said that educators have been asking for a “through-year assessment” for years so that they can act on the results during that same school year.
“When ‘normal’ has not been hitting the mark for years, it should force a redesign, which is the power of this pandemic, because now everybody’s looking at what’s happening, even though we’ve had this challenge for years,” she said. “We have to lean into this redesign.”
