HSE scores above average on ISTEP



HSE scores above average on ISTEP
8th-graders rank the best with 86 percent at or above the state standards

By Tania E. Lopez
Posted: September 17, 2009In Harrison Parkway, 90 percent of third-graders who took the test met or exceeded state standards in both subject areas.
At Geist, 97 percent of fourth-graders who took the test met or exceeded state standards in both subject areas.
At Fall Creek, 90 percent of the school’s sixth-graders met or exceeded state standards in both subject areas.
Statewide, 2009 “pass” rates across all grades tested — 3 to 8 — were 70 percent in English/language arts; 71 percent in math; 62 percent in science and 59 percent in social studies.
In Hamilton Southeastern, the highest scores overall went to the 1,352 eighth-graders who took the test; 86 percent met or exceeded state standards.
The lowest — though well above the state average — went to HSE’s fifth-graders with 82 percent of the 1,424 students who took the test meeting or exceeding state standards.
Because of the new format, the results won’t affect the federal adequate yearly progress standards. In Indiana, adequate yearly progress is determined based on a whole school’s results on the state’s standardized ISTEP test.
HSE Assistant Superintendent Sandra Hollingshead called it a clean slate.
“This is a new test with a different format,” said Hollingshead. “As a result this is considered a new baseline.”
Hollingshead added that the results would give teachers the opportunity to provide appropriate intervention.
For example, she said programs such as the district’s balanced literacy program and Read 180 are used to help in remediating struggling students
In addition, this marks the first year HSE has implemented the districtwide Response to Intervention (RTI) program. The program has been used in several elementaries for years and now is being used in junior high and intermediate school.
RTI is a program that allows teachers to give additional instruction to students who need it the most.

Call Star reporter Tania E. Lopez at (317) 444-5528.

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