“For the third consecutive year, Indiana students saw performance gains on the state’s accountability test.
About 70.2 percent of Indiana’s public school students passed both the English and math portion of the ISTEP+ in 2011, up from 68.2 percent last year. English/language arts pass rates jumped from 76 percent to 78 percent; math pass rates from 78 percent to 79 percent.
Public schools in northeast Indiana mirrored state trends.
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said the slight incremental gains were especially significant because they follow historic gains last year.
“Indiana is moving in a direction that will set it apart from the rest of the country,” he said Tuesday, stressing the dedicated teachers and principals who urged student progress. “When we as adults push, our children will respond.”
In northeast Indiana, 68.5 percent of students passed both sections, up from 67.5 percent last year. . .
ISTEP+ results at Allen County’s three charter schools were mixed.
While the area’s two Imagine schools had higher scores than last year, scores at the Timothy L. Johnson Academy decreased.
At Imagine MASTer Academy, 60.3 percent of students passed both sections of the exam, up from 53.6 percent the year before. At Imagine on Broadway, 36.4 percent of students passed both sections, up from 31 percent in 2010.
Imagine Schools Regional Director Guy Platter said he was excited by the scores.
“We’re just continuing to fine tune our practice to be more responsive to individual kids and the standards they need to master,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to increase scores at both schools . . .”
Article published on July 13, 2011 in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette