INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A lawmaker who sponsored a bill that's spurred a review of Indiana's ISTEP+ testing program says the state has “too much highstakes testing.''
The Legislative Council announced last month that a summer study committee will examine whether Indiana should replace its testing program for students in grades three through 10.
Democratic state Rep. Melanie Wright of Yorktown sponsored a bill last session addressing how Indiana's testing affects students and teachers.
Her bill didn't go anywhere, but its language is driving the education study committee's summer work.
Wright, who's a teacher, tells The Herald Bulletin Indiana has “too much highstakes testing'' and those tests are too curriculumoriented.
She says tests with more openanswer responses instead of hundreds of multiple choice questions might help students learn and retain crucial information.
