In the wake of the latest ISTEP testing controversy, Governor Mike Pence, Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz and the leadership in the Indiana General Assembly have reached an agreement on how to handle teacher performance evaluations.

1. Educator Evaluation/Teacher Performance Grants/Accountability Update
December 18, 2015
I am pleased to share that over the last several weeks the leadership in the Indiana General Assembly,
the Governor's Office, State Board of Education, and the leadership from the Indiana Department of
Education have been collaborating over several important issues facing our educators, schools,
communities and state.
We are all determined to work together to achieve the following goals:
1. "Un-coupling" the 2014-2015 ISTEP+ results from the educator evaluation system.
2. Ensuring the $30 Million Teacher Performance Grant is distributed on a fair basis.
3. Recommending placement of the state's A-F grades to mitigate the impact of the assessment on
schools and corporations experienced from the '14-15 transition year while maintaining accountability.
There are many details within each of these goals that are still undetermined, however based on
assurances from legislative leadership, the Governor's Office, and the State Board of Education there
have been some definitive decisions made, and those include the following:
1. Individual Growth Measure (IGM) and Negative Impact will not be released as scheduled on
December 18, 2015.
2. Teacher Performance Grant amounts will not be released as scheduled on December 21, 2015.
3. Rather, there will be legislative action related to each of the above goals early in the 2016 Session of
the Indiana General Assembly.
Furthermore, the Department and State Board of Education are continuing to investigate the issues
recently raised in the media about the validity of some of the Part 1 ISTEP+ scores. Please know that we
are working with all stakeholders to ensure the scores are valid, accurate, and reflect the hard work of
our students, educators and schools.
We will continue to communicate as quickly as possible when new information is available, as we are
well aware that you need answers to many related impacts to the decisions that will be forthcoming. As
such we have set up two additional means for communication. First, we have established a unique site at
http://www.doe.in.gov/update
<http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe3b16747562057d751271&ls=fdc715737666047e721c72776d&m=fef31073726
d01&l=fe9917797665057c71&s=fdec157372620d757d117374&jb=ffcf14&t=> where we will provide the
most up to date information. In addition, we have created a direct email account for any questions at
updates@doe.in.gov<mailto:accassesstpgee@doe.in.gov>.