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Ritz proposes 1-year freeze on school accountability grades

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The State Board of Education will consider a proposal to suspend school accountability grades for a year and scrap portions of the ISTEP+ exam as it grapples with concerns about increased testing time for Indiana students.

The proposals are included in an agenda for a meeting that schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz called for Friday amid growing outrage over the ISTEP+ exam.

About 450,000 students in grades 3 to 8 will begin taking the test this month. Their scores will be used to grade schools on the state’s “A-F” system, evaluate teachers and determine their pay.

The test was redesigned this year to align with new state standards after Indiana withdrew from the national Common Core standards. The result has more than doubled the time needed to complete the exam.