The Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (ISTEP+) assessment serves as a Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE) for students in cohorts 2019- 2022. GQEs are assessments that students must pass in order to fulfill graduation requirements and receive a diploma.
Students in cohorts 2019-2022 may participate in ISTEP+ Mathematics and English/Language Arts retest as needed in order to fulfill graduation requirements. Students in cohort 2022 are required to participate in the ISTEP+ Spring 2021 Retest for school accountability.
ISTEP+ assesses student achievement levels in English/Language Arts (Grade 10) and Mathematics (Algebra 1 and Grade 8 foundational math skills) according to the Indiana Academic Standards that were adopted by the Indiana State Board of Education in 2014.
Two retest windows are available for School Year 2020-2021. The Winter Retest is open November 9 - December 11. The Spring Retest is open February 2 - February 26.
The assessments are administered in two parts. Part 1 consists of Applied Skills (open-ended) items and Part 2 includes multiple-choice and technology-enhanced items. Both Part 1 and Part 2 are required components of the ISTEP+ program and are used to measure student mastery of the Indiana Academic Standards.
- The best preparation for any assessment is strong standards-based instruction. Talk to your local school about their plan for instruction and about options for additional support for students if needed.
- The Indiana Department of Education offers several resources to help students understand what the ISTEP+ assessment is like.
- ISTEP+ Experience (Online sample test)
- Sample Items for English/Language Arts and Mathematics provide examples of what types of questions are on the assessment.
- Performance Level Descriptors for English/Language Arts and Mathematics give details about the content and skills that students must demonstrate to pass the assessment.
- Released Items for English/Language Arts and Mathematics demonstrate how Indiana scores open-ended items (such as the writing prompt) using actual student responses.
- 2019 English Language Arts Released Items
Contact your local school for information about accessing your student’s results. Talk to your child’s teacher and guidance counselor about what the results mean and how to use results to inform next instructional steps for your child.
For questions related to ISTEP+ please contact the Indiana Department of Education at INAssessments@doe.in.gov or (317) 232-9050.
