Information Maintained by the Office of Code Revision Indiana Legislative Services Agency
IC 20-31-8
     Chapter 8. Assessing Improvement

IC 20-31-8-1
ISTEP scores and other assessments
     Sec. 1. (a) The performance of a school's students on the ISTEP program test and other assessments recommended by the education roundtable and approved by the state board are the primary and majority means of assessing a school's improvement.
    (b) The education roundtable shall examine and make recommendations to the state board concerning:
        (1) performance indicators to be used as a secondary means of determining school progress;
        (2) expected progress levels, continuous improvement measures, distributional performance levels, and absolute performance levels for schools; and
        (3) an orderly transition from the performance based accreditation system to the assessment system set forth in this article.
    (c) The education roundtable shall consider methods of measuring improvement and progress used in other states in developing recommendations under this section.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.15.

IC 20-31-8-2
Secondary means of assessing improvements
     Sec. 2. (a) In addition to scores on the ISTEP program test and other assessments, the department shall use the performance indicators developed under section 1 of this chapter and the benchmarks and indicators of performance in each school corporation's annual performance report as a secondary means of assessing the improvement of each school and school corporation.
    (b) The department shall assess improvement in the following manner:
        (1) Compare each school and each school corporation with its own prior performance and not to the performance of other schools or school corporations.
        (2) Compare the results in the annual report under IC 20-20-8 with the benchmarks and indicators of performance established in the plan for the same school.
        (3) Compare the results for a school by comparing each student's results for each grade with the student's prior year results, with an adjustment for student mobility rate. The education roundtable shall make recommendations concerning the incorporation of a statistical adjustment for student mobility rates into the results.
        (4) Compare the results for a school with the state average and the ninety-fifth percentile level for all assessments and performance indicators.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.15.


IC 20-31-8-3
Categories or designations of school improvement established
     Sec. 3. The state board shall establish a number of categories or designations of school improvement based on the improvement that a school makes in performance of the measures determined by the board with the advice of the education roundtable. The categories or designations must reflect various levels of improvement.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.15.

IC 20-31-8-4
Placement of school in category or designation of school improvement
     Sec. 4. The state board shall place each school in a category or designation of school improvement based on the department's findings from the assessment of the improvement of each school under section 2 of this chapter. The state board must place those schools that do not show improvement and in which less than ninety percent (90%) of the students meet academic standards in the lowest category or designation.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.15.