A solid majority of Indianapolis African-American elementary and middle public school students passed the 2011 ISTEP tests in English/Language Arts and Math.
According to data released by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and analyzed by the Indianapolis Recorder, 58.4 percent of the 23,238 Indianapolis African-American third through eighth graders passed ISTEP’s English/Language Arts (ELA) tests. Some 58.3 percent of 23,357 Indy’s African-American students passed the ISTEP math test.
Indianapolis’ Black students did slightly better than the state in math; slightly lower in ELA.
Statewide, 59.2 percent of African-American elementary and middle school students passed ISTEP ELA; 57.4 percent passed math.
Again this year the Recorder examined the ISTEP data released by IDOE, concentrating on the results for Black students in Indianapolis and suburban school districts and charter schools with overall Black enrollments of over 200 Black students.
Black performance by Indianapolis Public Schools students was relatively flat with 50.7 percent passing ISTEP ELA this year compared to 48.5 percent in 2010. In math, 49.6 percent of Blacks in IPS passed; compared to 49.1 percent last year.
But it most be noted that the vast majority of Black public school students in Indianapolis/Marion County do not attend IPS. Just 32.8 percent of the city/county’s Black students do.
Of Black public school students in Indianapolis township and charter schools, 62.1 percent passed ISTEP ELA and 63 percent passed math. That is significantly better than IPS’ results and ahead of the passing rate for all Black students statewide.
Again this year, Black students in Carmel/Clay in Hamilton County, Brownsburg in Hendricks County and the Charles Tindley Charter School in Indy led the way in the highest percentages of Black students who passed ISTEP.
Blacks in the Carmel/Clay schools topped ISTEP results with 85.5 percent passing ELA and 87.9 percent passing math. Charles Tindley was second among all districts and charters with 83.4 percent passing language arts and 83.7 percent passing math. Blacks in Brownsburg schools were third in both subjects.
In English/Language Arts, Blacks in Hamilton Southeastern schools had the fourth best ISTEP scores, followed by Avon, the Math and Science Northside Charter School and Christel House Academy Charter.
In math, Andrew Brown Charter had the fourth highest percentage of Black students passing ISTEP math, followed by Hamilton Southeastern, Fall Creek Academy Charter and Christel House Academy.
Among major school districts in Indianapolis/Marion County, Washington Township’s Black elementary and middle school students had the highest ISTEP passing grades, but they ranked 12th in ELA and 11th in math compared to the other districts and charters.
ISTEP only tests students in the third through eighth grade. So, there’s no ISTEP data on 13 of the 17 schools on the state’s potential takeover list. But four of those schools, including three in IPS, did report data for their sixth, seventh and eighth graders and the results were mixed.
Black sixth through eighth graders at Arlington High School scored dismally on ISTEP with just 27 percent passing ELA and an abysmal 19.1 percent passing math. Washington Community School was worse, with 26.7 percent passing ELA; 17.8 percent passing math.
Black middle school students attending IPS’ magnet programs scored better, in some cases 25 to 35 percentage points higher than Blacks in IPS’ regular middle schools, thus raising questions of education disparity within the IPS system.
The full 2011 ISTEP data can be found at the Indiana Department of Education web site: doe.in.gov/ISTEP.
