Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires schools to administer the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) exam in the first two weeks of May, provides for a pilot test of the May administration of the ISTEP in May 2007. The bill also requires the Department of Education to develop a ten-year plan for student assessment that annually assesses the progress of each student, confirms before graduation that each student has the required knowledge, provides teachers with a diagnostic assessment tools for language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, provides annual assessments for third grade, end of course assessments for ninth through twelfth grades, a graduation examination, a separate written essay exam for each grade, moves toward online testing, and reports results to teachers, parents, communities, and the federal government by July 16th every year. The bill specifies that the budget agency will transfer the money needed to fund the pilot ISTEP exam from the Build Indiana Fund to the State General Fund, and that school corporations’ decisions to hold students back in school may be based on these assessments.

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text