Mrs. Frizzle Goes Back to Indianapolis

I have long been critical of the ISTEP+, the assessment Indiana uses to determine kids' progress, school ratings, and my paycheck. I don't mind being held accountable for what I do in the classroom, (I think I should be), but I DO mind a test that is unfair to the children and is, at times, poorly written.

(I'll never forget the time when a confused and stressed student asked me during one ISTEP+, "Mrs. I., the question says, 'Choose from the following five answers,' but there are only four. What should I do?" Crimanitly! Couldn't they have caught that error??)

I have gotten my chance to make changes to the ISTEP+, and believe you me, I have taken it.

In April, I got an email from the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) asking me if I would serve on the Grade 4 ISTEP+ Science Blueprint and Item Specification Development Committee, a group working on rewriting the 4th grade Science ISTEP+ for the 2018-2019 school year. Our task would be to better align it to the updated 2016 Science standards.

No doubt I was invited due to the PAEMST award (go here to read about that) and I jumped at the chance and sent in the required papers. (My principal, Linda, and TSC's director of Gifted Education, Bea, had both told me that the PAEMST award would open doors for me.)

Things happened quickly after that - I have attended (and rewatched twice) a webinar explaining the committee's task and outlining the procedures. I have spent hours poring over the 2016 Grade 4 Science standards and making recommendations about how they should be assessed, possible issues I saw, and then prioritizing those standards. (Should they be tested annually, every couple of years, or left for the teacher to assess in the classroom?) It was a huge job and took hours.

The binder I put together with all my documents and notes for the meeting.

Tuesday I headed to Indianapolis to meet with the IDOE, Pearson (the test vendor), and the other teachers who were part of the committee. (Judging from the webinar, I thought that there were about thirteen of us.)

I was very curious about what Pearson's offices would look like, and it was not a surprise to me that they were quite imposing from the outside.

Pearson, 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis.

The actual members of the committee was a surprise, though - there were seventeen of us, but only five of us were teachers! Most of the people there were IDOE people, and then three or four from Pearson.

I realized that we five teachers had the opportunity to make a huge impact on the test for Indiana children. What an opportunity!

I can't write about what happened there as I signed a confidentiality agreement. The teachers and one Pearson rep did all the talking and discussing, while the eleven other people bent over their computers taking notes on everything we said. (Their silence was pretty eerie!)

But I can say that I had a voice and I used it. So much so that I was surprised when I was asked afterward to serve on another committee that is rewriting the ISTAR (the test given to students who have disabilities and need a less rigorous test.) I have agreed to serve on that one and have begun gathering information from the teachers with whom I work that teach the Life Skills classes (i.e. our buddy class) and the two resource teachers at Hershey so I am more informed about the ISTAR and its inherent problems.

I missed an end of year activity with my 5th graders as a result of this meeting. I was sad about that, but when I explained to them what I was doing and why, they understood. So much so that, when I returned, I discovered one of my students had shared with Mrs. Fields her take on my absence.

"Mrs. I had to weigh her priorities - should she spend the day with the twelve of us, or should she go to Indianapolis and make a difference in the lives of MILLIONS of 4th graders? I think she chose the right priority."

While my work will not affect "millions," I do hope the outcome is a fairer Science ISTEP+ test for 4th graders in Indiana.