ILEARN scores stay flat
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For the most part, Hoosier students are learning at the same rates they did before the COVID-19 pandemic upended our education system, but need to exceed those rates in order to make up for the progress that was lost.
Why it matters: Educators said it would take years for students to recover from the learning loss that occurred when schools statewide suddenly closed in spring 2020, but the latest data and analysis from the Indiana Department of Education shows that it may be even more complicated than that.
Driving the news: IDOE yesterday released results from last spring's standardized English and math tests known as ILEARN, which is given to third- through eighth-grade students annually.
- ILEARN was first administered in 2018 and the statewide scores at the time, about 7 percentage points higher, were considered a crisis.
What's happening: While IDOE analysis found that for most students the pace of learning has returned to pre-pandemic norms, that's not enough to reach pre-pandemic ILEARN proficiency levels.
- Scores significantly dropped from 2019 to 2021 — the first year in the pandemic that the test was given — and have stagnated since then.
By the numbers: Statewide, just 30.6% of students passed both the English and math portions, meaning they're on track to graduate high school ready for college or a career.
- Overall, math scores rose 1.5 points to 40.9%, while English scores dropped half a point to 40.7%.
Zoom in: Among Marion County's 11 public school districts, only Speedway outperformed the state average, with 46.2% of students passing both portions.
Of note: Proficiency rates vary widely based on demographic factors — only 10.9% of Black and 17.4% of Hispanic students passed, compared to 37.1% of white students.
- English language learning students continue to struggle, with just 8.3% passing both English and math tests.
- Students from low-income families (17.6%) were also proficient at lower rates than their peers who don't qualify for meal assistance (42.9%).