INDIANA, (WOWO/NETWORK INDIANA): Could this be the end of the ISTEP? Many students, teachers, administrators and parents dislike the annual test of basic skills and instead of the standardized exam, Indiana’s new Superintendent of Public Instruction is proposing the use of something called “computer adaptive” testing.

ISTEP currently uses a “fixed form model” asking every test-taker the same questions. Superintendent Jennifer McCormick says that’s not the best way to determine students’ needs. The computer adaptive model would allow test takers to be asked test questions adapted to individual students based on their individual responses and skill levels.

McCormick is calling for computer adaptive testing for grades 3-8 as well as national readiness measures such as PSAT and SAT tests in high schools. She told a State Senate Committee she wants to roll out the new testing model in 2019. That would mean another year of ISTEP, but it would provide time, she says, “to ensure we get this right.”