Black 2011 ISTEP Results; Gains Solid In Townships, Charters, Suburbs; Not So IPS

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 Afternoons with Amos , 58.4% of the 23,238 Indianapolis African-American third through eighth graders passed ISTEP’s English/Language Arts (ELA) tests.  Some 58.3% 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% of African-American elementary and middle school students passed ISTEP ELA; 57.4% passed Math.

Again this year,  Afternoons with Amos 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 School students was relatively flat with 50.7% passing ISTEP ELA this year compared to 48.5% in 2010. In Math, 49.6% of Blacks in IPS passed; compared to 49.1% 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% of the city/county’s Black students do.

Of Black public school students in Indianapolis township and charter schools, 62.1% passed ISTEP ELA and 63.0% passed Math. 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% passing ELA and 87.9% passing math.  Charles Tindley was second among all districts and charters with 83.4% passing language arts and 83.7% 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 was 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 thirteen of the seventeen 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 27.0% passing ELA and an abysmal 19.1% passing math. Washington Community School was worse, with 26.7% passing ELA; 17.8% 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. Raising questions of education disparity within the IPS system.

The full 2011 ISTEP data can be found here: 2011 ISTEP Data Page

2011 ISTEP PERFORMANCE OF BLACK STUDENTS

2011 ISTEP PERFORMANCE OF BLACK STUDENTS