TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – Indiana’s I-learn test results are in. Statewide, just over 40% of students in grades three through eight were proficient in English/Language Arts and Math.
During the Indiana Department of Education’s meeting Wednesday, leaders heard data from the state’s ILearn assessment, as well as updated findings of the “covid-19 academic impact study” on student learning.
District-wide, Vigo County schools’ I-learn results were below the state averages. 31.8% of third through eighth-grade students were proficient in English/Language Arts. 34.3% showed proficiency in math.
In a statement regarding the numbers, the corporation noted that students made gains in math, improving for a second year in the majority of tested grades. Vigo County scores improved in eight of the 115 test content areas. And when it comes to large urban school districts, students performed in the top third; first in third-grade math and English, first in fourth-grade science, and first in fifth-grade Social Studies.
The statement went on to say, the VCSC has been working to improve math scores at the middle school level. School leaders were extremely pleased to see significant improvement from last year to this year in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Dr. Goeller, leader of the corporation’s curriculum and instruction teams attributes the two-year math achievement gains to curriculum coordinators, district math coaches, principals, and hard-working teachers who are implementing strong math core programs and well as interventions.
Vigo County school superintendent, Chris Himsel shared his thoughts on these standardized tests, “Our teachers can better assess where our students are than those standardized tests ever do. And they are doing it every minute of every day as they are constantly adjusting their lesson based on the answers and responses that you give in the in-class activities that they’re doing.”
Superintendent, Chris Himsel says, you can’t just look at the test scores alone.
“It’s (ILearn scores) just one piece of the puzzle. We will combine what we learn from the information, we will combine it with what we know from our formative assessments that we do with the internal, localized assessments that we do; we’ll use it with graduation data, attendance data, the classroom observations that we do,” Himsel said.
To make sure students are moving in the right direction, Himsel said you have to look at the whole picture.
“The kids we were teaching twenty years ago, are not the same kids we are teaching today,” Himsel said. “So, how does this information help us better adapt so that we are meeting the needs of today’s kids?”
When it comes to learning loss from the pandemic, Himsel posed the question, “How do we recover from that? How do we recover from the shock,” he said.
The district is participating in a Student Learning Recovery Grant Program with the United Way of the Wabash Valley. The program provides math coaching assistance.
“We can approach it (learning loss) from the standpoint of ‘we’ve got to retain or regain all that learning in one year, or we can recognize that kids are in different places and where it really matters is that by the time they graduate, they need to be at the place when they graduate that we need them to. And when we take that long-term approach, we can better meet the needs of kids who do not learn at the same pace, their learning is not linear, its more up and down, when we have that more holistic long-term view, we have a better chance of meeting their needs.”
