PARENT SAYS WEST SIDE BARRED SOME STUDENTS FROM ISTEP
POST-TRIBUNE
BY: SHARLONDA L. WATERHOUSE
Several West Side High School students may have been improperly excluded from ISTEP testing last week.
Such exclusion could put the school's accreditation at risk, according to Jeff Zaring, an administrator for the Indiana Department of Education.
Patricia Beach said her daughter, Deanna Lowe, was barred from ISTEP and spent the week idling “in gym,” where, Lowe said, “at least 50 other sophomores” were corralled.
“I'm mad,” Lowe said. “I think they feel I'm dumb and could not pass the test. I think they did this because they want the test scores to be higher. They think if they only test the smart ones, the test scores will go up,” the student said.
Beach said the school “sent me a letter saying my daughter did not have 10 credits and could not qualify to take the ISTEP.”
The state does have rules about who can take the 10th grade graduation qualifying exam, but credits (of which Deanna says she has 8.5) isn't the only thing that matters.
To be defined as a 10th grader for ISTEP purposes, a student has to meet one of the following criteria according to state law:
- Have taken two semesters of high school (or three trimesters),
- Have 10 credits that count toward high school graduation
- “Meet the definition of Grade 10 that has been adopted by the student's school for determining class standing.”
It is the latter definition that Beach believes applies to her daughter.
Lowe's class schedule says she's in Grade 10. She's enrolled in English 10 and geometry, which are sophomore classes. All correspondence to her mom, identifies Deanna as a 10th grader. So why were she and other sophomores barred from testing?
West Side High School Principal Diane Rouse said she could not discuss or confirm the matter and referred questions to school system spokeswoman Charmella Greer. Greer said district officials, including central administrator Sylvester Rowan, were speaking with Rouse “to verify something” and would issue a statement today.
Zaring said every child in a grade level where ISTEP is offered should take some version of the ISTEP test even if a parent and school agree to delay the 10th-grade graduation qualifying exam. That test can be delayed for up to a year under special circumstances.
“A school can't really bar a child from testing. There's no opt-out,” Zaring said.
“If the graduation qualifying exam is delayed, the school must develop some type of individualized, written plan for the student,” he said.
Beach said her daughter had no written plan. She said the letter sent to several parents a week before testing had “yes” and “no” boxes for parents to check off whether they wanted the students to take ISTEP.
She could not produce the letter for the Post-Tribune because she said she threw it away and called the principal instead. Beach said she told Rouse she wanted her daughter to be tested.
Lowe said most members of the sophomore class were called to a special assembly and told they did not have enough credits to take the exam.
“They could be in violation of legal standards for accreditation,” Zaring said. “Schools have to test 95 percent of students under No Child Left Behind in order to make AYP (annual yearly progress).”
But if no formal complaint is filed, the state may not get a formal record of the matter.
With a complaint, “We would look at it and determine if the facts are true and would it constitute a violation,” Zaring said.
He said even if scores could be artificially inflated by exclusion, a school using that strategy would then suffer by failing to meet AYP.
Beach said at one point, the principal said if she provided her daughter's transcripts from the treatment center, Lowe could be tested. But Beach said the transcripts were already given to the school.
“If they didn't have them, that's their fault. My case worker brought them to the school,” Lowe said.
Zaring said any parent who is concerned that their child was denied the opportunity to take ISTEP can file a complaint with the state Department of Education's assessment office.
