Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (usually referred to simply as ISTEP or ISTEP+) is an annual No Child Left Behind test designed by the Indiana Department of Education to measure students' mastery of basic language and science skills, particularly reading, writing and mathematics. Before 2009 it was administered in the fall, beginning the 2009-10 school year it will be administered in the spring. All students in grades 3 through 8 and high school sophomores take the ISTEP+ each spring, with language arts and math covered in each test.[1] Additionally, students in grades 4 and 6 are tested in science, and students in grades 5 and 7 are tested in social studies.[2]
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Successfully completing the final (grade 10) ISTEP+ Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE) is necessary to graduate from an Indiana public high school. This test covers English/Language Arts and Mathematics. If a student does not pass this test, s/he is placed in remediation classes the following semester for the subject(s) that s/he failed and will remain in these classes until the semester after passing both sections. Students can retake the exam during their junior and senior year of high school.
Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year the test was moved from fall to spring. During the 2008-2009 school year the test was given both in its old fall time slot and its new spring location in the calendar. In subsequent years the test will be given in the spring. It is hoped that the move will save Indiana over $2 million annually.[3] In the 2011 Spring ISTEP+, students in the 5th and 8th grades took their ISTEP's on the computer via McGraw-Hill. Some controversy has arisen after computer glitches. .[4]