PROPOSED ISTEP MOVE HEADED TO SENATE
BY: WSBT-TV

A big part of your child's education could change forever. Indiana House lawmakers voted to move the ISTEP tests from Fall to Spring to give students more time to prepare.

Right now Indiana students in third to tenth grade take ISTEPs in the fall. But parents have always disagreed on when is best and some feel the decision could cost millions and still end up short-changing their kids' educations.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction, Suellen Reed, doesn't want the test to move. That opinion puts her out of step with her fellow Republican, Governor Mitch Daniels -- who supports the change.

Reed estimates it will cost $45 million to make the switch -- $30 million to test students both in the fall and the spring the first year, $5 million to rewrite two tests and $10 million for a pilot exam.

House minority leader B. Pat Bauer (D, South Bend) voted against the plan. As a former teacher, he's worried about the impact on students.

“You can't diagnose them in time for the summer, and that's what that test is about -- so you can remediate them,” he told NEWS22.

ISTEP used to be given in the Spring, and was moved to the Fall in 1997. At that time it cost $12 million to make the switch. The debate whether to move it back now moves to the Senate.