No changes expected to IREAD test in 2015

A proposal to shift the state’s IREAD exam — which third graders are required to pass — to be given in second grade was shelved today by a plan to study the idea over the summer instead.

The Senate Education Committee voted today, 9-0, to rewrite the bill so that, if passed, it would create a a study committee later this year to consider the switch. Committee Chairman Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, said the bill includes language that no changes would be made to IREAD before June 30, 2016. This would mean that this year’s and next year’s third-graders would take IREAD unchanged from years past.

“It turned out to be a bigger issue than I thought, and it’s more controversial than I thought,” Kruse said. “And I think both sides have good merit on their arguments. I just thought if we had a 45-minute hearing on it, I didn’t think that was sufficient, and I didn’t think we had enough information.”

Kruse said he spoke with specialists and educators and heard so much conflicting advice that he didn’t feel comfortable asking the committee to vote. Most notably, he said he was concerned that many educators thought second-graders might not be mature enough for standardized reading tests.

“The littler the kid, the tougher it is for him to even think about a test, or how do you do this, or to concentrate on a high stakes test,” Kruse said.

Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem, Senate Bill 169’s author, said the bill was meant to address teachers’ concerns about the number of tests given at third grade. Currently, third-graders have three periods of standardized tests in the spring, two sessions of ISTEP and one of IREAD.

Houchin said moving the reading test would give students more time for reading help and also would allow for teachers to know earlier whether students struggle.

“I continue to believe that our elementary school students would be better served by assessing reading proficiencies in second grade,” Houchin said in a statement.

Proponents of the bill say it could free teachers to give students longer to get reading help before they would be held back from moving onto fourth grade. The bill’s critics say the reading exam doesn’t give teachers much useful information and shouldn’t be given to younger children.

The idea of moving the reading test to second grade could be reconsidered later in the session, but Kruse said he expected it was more likely it would not get serious consideration before 2016.

The education committee considered seven other bills today:

STEM dual-credit associate degree pilot program, Senate Bill 259. Sen. Ronald Grooms, R-Jeffersonville, presented a plan for the creation of a pilot program of five high schools, to be chosen by the Indiana Department of Education, to allow students to take classes toward an associate’s degree in science, technology, engineering or math by the time they graduate high school. A vote is expected next week.

Bilingual recognition, Senate Bill 267. This bill would create a note on high school transcripts of students who are bilingual. Gary Spurgin, President of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, said such skills are in demand from employers, mentioning Indiana would be just the 10th state to pass such a law.

“We know it is very important to encourage and promote linguistic and cultural proficiency, not only in English, but for a second language,” Spurgin said. “Studying language increases more opportunities not only at higher education, but throughout (students’) lives.”

Schools could decide locally how to test for language proficiency, but Spurgin said plenty of tests exist to determine it, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and SAT subject tests. A vote is expected next week.

School counselors, Senate Bill 277. Authored by Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis, this bill seeks to put at least one school counselor in every elementary school in the state, not including charter or private schools, at an estimated cost of $60 million. Merritt said he realized the move was costly but thought the idea should be discussed.

“We all talk about reading by second or third grade, but I also believe the social makeup of the student plays a role in there as well,” Merritt said. “(The bill) may or may not pass the committee, it may or may not pass Sen. Kenley’s (Senate Finance) committee … We need this sort of service in these schools, and I think the public needs to start talking about it.”

Several school counselors testified that they contribute to the overall health and stability of students in elementary schools. Cindy Cain, a counselor in Crawford County schools, said that money shouldn’t keep an important resource from students.

“The bottom line is that counselors are the first to go come crunch time,” Cain said.

A vote is expected next week.

School bus monitors, Senate Bill 339. The bill is a “cleanup of school bus law,” according to education department lobbyist John Barnes. It makes a fix so that bus monitors, who mind children but do not drive, are not required to meet the same requirements as the drivers for having strong eyesight. Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, said the change would allow more people to volunteer as monitors. The bill passed the committee 10-0.

Teaching ethnic history, Senate Bill 495. The bill is aimed at requiring schools to teach about minority ethnicities in their social studies curriculum, although schools will get to decide specifically which ethnicities to include based on their student populations.

Author Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, said it’s important to include a guidelines like this in statute, and not just leave it to the suggestion of social studies standards. Barnes, speaking on behalf of state Superintendent Glenda Ritz, supported the bill, as did Kruse. A vote is expected next week.

Names and locations of medical education centers, Senate Bill 123The committee passed this bill 10-0 onto the full Senate. It is a technical bill altering the formal names of some university medical schools.

Changes in physical exam requirements to participate in sports, Senate Bill 119Kruse withdrew this bill, which proposed to change when students had to get physical exams from doctors to within two weeks of the students’ birthdays, rather than at other times during the year. State school and medical officials said the change would create hardships for students and families.