ILEARN scores stagnate after pandemic recovery
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Learning in Indiana's elementary and middle schools continues to stagnate, with less than one-third of students proficient in both grade-level English and math skills.
Why it matters: While the pace of learning has returned to pre-pandemic norms for most students, it's not enough to reach pre-pandemic ILEARN proficiency levels.
- ILEARN, the state standardized English and math tests, was first administered in 2018 and the scores at the time, about 7 percentage points higher, were considered a crisis.
Driving the news: IDOE on Wednesday released results from last spring's ILEARN, which is given to third- through eighth-grade students annually.
Between the lines: Scores significantly dropped from 2019 to 2021 — the first year in the pandemic that the test was given — and have stagnated since then.
- While modest gains were seen in English, math scores dipped across most grade levels this year.
By the numbers: Statewide, just 30.8% 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 dipped 0.2 points to 40.7%, while English scores rose 0.3 points to 41%.
Reality check: Proficiency rates vary widely based on demographic factors — only 11.7% of Black and 17.3% of Hispanic students passed both portions, compared to 37.4% of white students.
- English language learning students continue to struggle, with just 8.6% passing both English and math tests.
- Students from low-income families were also proficient at lower rates (18.1%) than their peers who don't qualify for meal assistance (42.1%).
The big picture: Performance on standardized testing is closely tied to socioeconomic and other demographic factors, so districts with high concentrations of students from low-income families, students requiring special education services and those still learning English often perform poorly when compared to districts in wealthier suburban areas.
- Once again, districts surrounding Marion County — Brownsburg, Carmel Clay and Zionsville — were among the top performing in the state.
Zoom in: Speedway Schools (46.3%) and Franklin Township (34.4%) were the only districts in Marion County to beat the state average for proficiency in both English and math.
- Indianapolis Public Schools saw the biggest decline year-over-year, losing 1.3 points and falling to a pass rate of 13.5%.
- Only Warren (9.9), Wayne (12.6) and Pike (12.9) had lower scores.
What's next: Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, students will start taking interim assessments throughout the year — once each quarter — and the end-of-year ILEARN assessment will be shorter.
- Education Secretary Katie Jenner said the interim assessments are a response to requests from teachers to have more useful tests that provide actionable data throughout the year.