INDIANAPOLIS (Network Indiana): A new form of standardized testing for Indiana will be implemented this week.
ILEARN is replacing the ISTEP exam as the statewide standardized test for students in elementary, middle and high school. The test is taken on a computer rather than using a number-2 pencil and a testing booklet.
The test uses computer adaptive software in order to make the test more understandable for students taking it. The software adapts the exam to each student’s mastery of the content throughout the test. Each time a student answers a question, their response helps determine what the next question will be.
Experts say the test will adjust to each student’s skill set, which will, in turn, provide a better measure of what that student knows. The test also has no time limit so students can take as much time as they need to finish the exam.
Though the exam is changing, the state’s standards that the students will have to meet to pass it are not.
3 comments
Second paragraph, third sentence. Very hard to make sense of the grammar and/or structure of this sentence???
Thanks for catching that. Network Indiana wrote the article; I’ll alert them to the typo.
Is ILEARN only in Indiana? If it is different from the rest of the standardized tests in the US, then it no longer is standardized testing, and will not show us which states and school districts are doing a better job of teaching, and any red ribbon science fair kid can tell you that is not a scientific comparison. The test should be identical throughout the US, but, in my opinion, whether school districts choose to use it should be optional, and if they choose not to use it, their students’ parents should ask why. Is it because they want to spend their teaching time doing other things, or because they fear bad results?