ISTEP Ridiculousness

[ilikeguns]

Not sure if this is the right place for this but it is political enough in my opinion..... My oldest son is in fourth grade at hoosier prairie elementary in Vigo County. Three days this week they will be testing ISTEP. Monday he was sent home from school with a fever. Since that time he has maintained a fever ranging from 99.8 up to 103.3. With body aches and lethargy associated with fevers. Today my wife contracted the school and spoke to the principle to see what arrangements needed to be made in regards to ISTEP. She was told that these three days are the Only chance and if he doesn't take it this week he will have to repeat fourth grade. Keep in mind he is an honor roll student every single grading period. We were told to send him to school , sick or not, starting tomorrow and come pick him up after the test. So not only will all of the other kids be exposed to illness, he will be expected to perform well on a test, with major repercussions for not performing well, while sick. Unfortunately I work nights and didn't know about this until late this evening. Do I have any recourse in this matter? Is this truly state wide policy or is the principle full of crap? I will be contacting the school corporation first thing in the morning but wanted to hear what INGO has to say.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Hmm...sounds like BS to me.

 

[cwillour]

Not sure if this is the right place for this but it is political enough in my opinion..... My oldest son is in fourth grade at hoosier prairie elementary in Vigo County. Three days this week they will be testing ISTEP. Monday he was sent home from school with a fever. Since that time he has maintained a fever ranging from 99.8 up to 103.3. With body aches and lethargy associated with fevers. Today my wife contracted the school and spoke to the principle to see what arrangements needed to be made in regards to ISTEP. She was told that these three days are the Only chance and if he doesn't take it this week he will have to repeat fourth grade. Keep in mind he is an honor roll student every single grading period. We were told to send him to school , sick or not, starting tomorrow and come pick him up after the test. So not only will all of the other kids be exposed to illness, he will be expected to perform well on a test, with major repercussions for not performing well, while sick. Unfortunately I work nights and didn't know about this until late this evening. Do I have any recourse in this matter? Is this truly state wide policy or is the principle full of crap? I will be contacting the school corporation first thing in the morning but wanted to hear what INGO has to say.

At least at my daughter's school, there is (and should be, IMO) a make-up window. I would quickly contact the school district super (call their home phone number, if needed.) As tomorrow would mark his 4th day (3 full, 1 partial) out of school he may need to see a doctor for the absence to be excused, depending on district policy.

 

[Principal Skinr]

Welcome to the world of high stakes standardized testing. The IDOE rules do not allow for being sick. If you can't take the test in the ISTEP window, you fail. However, there is no reason that should be used to retain a student in a grade. It should have nothing to do with that. Retention makes no sense if it does not stand a strong chance of having a benefit for the student. If your daughter performs as you say, it would do great harm to retain her and would be completely senseless.

I think it is a bluff to make sure you get your daughter to take the test. Remember, if she does not, not only does she fail, but the school and teacher(s) are held accountable for her failure, too, no matter what the reason for it.

 

[Principal Skinr]

At least at my daughter's school, there is (and should be, IMO) a make-up window. I would quickly contact the school district super (call their home phone number, if needed.) As tomorrow would mark his 4th day (3 full, 1 partial) out of school he may need to see a doctor for the absence to be excused, depending on district policy.

There is no make-up window. There IS an overall ISTEP window. Schools will typically test during the first part of the window, and save days at the end to take care of make-ups. That's what they are calling the make up window. However, once the overall testing window is closed, there is no making it up. Even hospitalization doesn't excuse missing the test. Death of a parent would equal the same thing. There are NO exceptions.

 

[ilikeguns]

He has an appointment at the doctor tomorrow. I believe the problem is that they had a three week window to get ISTEP done. They waited until the lady minute to do fourth grade and this is the final week. If they hadn't put it off to the wire it wouldn't be a problem to make it up the next week. Regardless of what the issue is, none of it is his, or his mom and my, fault/problem.

 

[SSGSAD]

Is HOME schooling, an OPTION ?????

 

[lordjackel]

Per Indiana Education code related to Istep. This is from the guidelines document schools are provided by the state.

Illness During Testing
Schools must have a clear and consistent policy that defines “excused illness.” The testing window will
generally allow enough time for a student to make up a missed portion of the exam due to an illness,
excluding the GQE Retest.

It is expected that the vast majority of students will complete ISTEP+ testing. Under no circumstances
may a student who is legitimately ill be required to attempt the test, and no tests may be given after
the end of the ISTEP+ testing window established by the Indiana State Board of Education.

If a student has started an assessment and is unable to complete the exam, the school should invalidate
and document the part that is not completed, fill out an invalidation form, and distribute it to the
appropriate personnel. Additionally, parents must be notified of the test invalidation. Please return
invalid tests for scoring. Documentation surrounding the invalidation should be kept at the local
school.

http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/assessment/istep-program-manual.pdf

 

[miguel]

Send him and make sure he breathes on the teachers and principal.

 

[Dead Duck]

You would be considered a "Bad Parent" to send your kid to school with such symptoms on any other day.
Dare I say - borderline - Child Endangerment.

I might be tempted to take my kid to the school office all sickly and walk him around to personally greet all the staff involved. Making sure they all get fully exposed. Shaking hands, sneezing and coughing.
Of course posting a vid on INGO after.




Best Solution = Home School





*Edit - Miguel beat me to it.

 

[Lucas156]

Tell him if he tries to hold your son back you'll sue his ass into oblivion. What a piece of **** principal.

 

[Principal Skinr]

Invalidating the test means nothing. It counts as a failure, same as if they took it and failed.

As for why they waited for grade 4, the likely reason is a limited number of computers. In that situation, you have to stagger the schedule, which would put some grade levels or classes toward the later side of the testing window.

No principal should allow a student to come in knowing he or she has a fever. However, it also is not fair they are held accountable for that child. I have a couple kids who have been hospitalized for weeks. They'll fail, and I'm held accountable for it. I'm not, however, going to try and wheel their beds into the school and get them to take the test.

 

[ilikeguns]

Per Indiana Education code related to Istep. This is from the guidelines document schools are provided by the state.

Illness During Testing
Schools must have a clear and consistent policy that defines “excused illness.” The testing window will
generally allow enough time for a student to make up a missed portion of the exam due to an illness,
excluding the GQE Retest.

It is expected that the vast majority of students will complete ISTEP+ testing. Under no circumstances
may a student who is legitimately ill be required to attempt the test, and no tests may be given after
the end of the ISTEP+ testing window established by the Indiana State Board of Education.

If a student has started an assessment and is unable to complete the exam, the school should invalidate
and document the part that is not completed, fill out an invalidation form, and distribute it to the
appropriate personnel. Additionally, parents must be notified of the test invalidation. Please return
invalid tests for scoring. Documentation surrounding the invalidation should be kept at the local
school.

http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/assessment/istep-program-manual.pdf

Excellent, thanks. BUT, can a student who is legitimately ill be held back to repeat an entire grade for not taking the tests?

 

[Jeffrey]

I'm going to go with no. I've got a student who has missed thirty + days of school this year and we've not thought about retention. As skinr mentioned above, it should only be an option if it will benefit the student. If your daughter is an honor role student, as my student is, I don't see how it could benefit her.

 

[Principal Skinr]

Excellent, thanks. BUT, can a student who is legitimately ill be held back to repeat an entire grade for not taking the tests?

Based on just ISTEP, I'd say it would be unethical. Never, ever, should one piece of data be used alone to determine retention. Especially a high-stakes test. That's my opinion, and it is a strong one. If anyone argued otherwise, I'd like to know why they would think that. The threat to hold an honor student back over this is a bluff. It is not a good move. They should just be straight up with the OP and explain thoroughly why it is important to take the test. If the child still has a fever, then she stays home. It sucks, but it isn't the child's or parents' fault.

 

[JettaKnight]

I think it is a bluff to make sure you get your daughter to take the test. Remember, if she does not, not only does she fail, but the school and teacher(s) are held accountable for her failure, too, no matter what the reason for it.

Ah, high stakes testing. The school, the teacher, the principal, they all depend (read $$$) on getting the students to have high ISTEP scores. I'm not complaining about that; there's not really a better way (read cost effective & objective) for performance based pay.

It could be that the principal just plain thinks your student is playing possum. A doctor's note should help.

 

[JRPLANE]

My local school tried to hold a buddies boy back, He talked with a lawery and was told the school can not hold a child back if the parent refuse to let it happen. That was two years ago, the young man graduated with his class. I say stand your ground, these school people think they can do anything they want.

 

[churchmouse]

There is no make-up window. There IS an overall ISTEP window. Schools will typically test during the first part of the window, and save days at the end to take care of make-ups. That's what they are calling the make up window. However, once the overall testing window is closed, there is no making it up. Even hospitalization doesn't excuse missing the test. Death of a parent would equal the same thing. There are NO exceptions.

I know you do not make the rules and are only stating the facts in this but seriously, that is total crap. Sometimes life gets in the way.

 

[Rookie]

So, who's decision would it be to hold the child back? School? Parents?

 

[Llamaguy]

That seems like a horrible policy. When I was in elementary I missed the standardized test week with the chicken pox. Luckily it was only for benchmarking and nothing happened.