The Indiana State Board of Education (Board) met virtually last Wednesday, July 8, for its July business meeting and approved the optional administration of the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination (IREAD-3) for fourth grade students in fall 2020. Allowing IREAD-3 to be optional empowers decision making at the local level while ensuring a valid and reliable method is available for measuring literacy knowledge levels.
“In these unprecedented times, it is important that we offer students, educators, and schools as much flexibility as we can without sacrificing quality. IREAD-3 is a valuable tool for discerning our students’ literacy needs,” said B. J. Watts, board chair. “Making its administration optional enables school districts to make the best decision locally as they consider their resources amidst all of these uncertainties.”
Board members voted unanimously to approve teacher preparation programs at five higher education institutions around the state. The approved programs are at the American College of Education, Butler University, Indiana State University, Indiana University Purdue University Columbus, and Indiana University South Bend.
The Board approved the Indiana Department of Education recommendation that the ISTEP+ 10 be administered to 2020-2021 juniors during the spring retest window as the high school assessment for accountability. This assessment is required by federal law as outlined in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
The Board will hold its next meeting on August 5.
