TERRE HAUTE —
The most inspiring portion of a story in Thursday’s edition of this newspaper about the impressive performance on ISTEP-plus tests within the South Vermillion Community School Corp. made no mention of scores, percentages or rankings.
Instead, it was a comment by a fourth-grade teacher at Ernie Pyle Elementary School to Tribune-Star education reporter Sue Loughlin: “The children did a wonderful job with the support of teachers, staff, parents and the community. It was definitely a group effort.”
That effort showed the power of cooperation, which is the base ingredient in the success of public education.
Of course, the actual scores produced by the South Vermillion students deserve applause, too. The school district led Indiana in ISTEP-plus gains for combined English/language arts and math scores. This year, 75.9 percent of students at the corporation’s schools passed both sections of the state’s standardized tests, an increase of 17.8 percent over 2011. The state’s second-best improvement by a school district was 12.6 percentage points.
How is such a turnaround possible in just one year? As South Vermillion Superintendent Dave Chapman said, “This didn’t happen by chance. There has been a lot of work, a lot of sweat, a lot of tears, a lot of stress and tension … but we persevered and came through and we showed what a team can do when they work together.” The corporation hired a director of curriculum, instruction and assessment. It hired five instructional coaches, one for each of its schools, pinpointing students at risk for not passing ISTEP. It positioned an extra half-hour of math and English instruction in the regular school day.
That comprehensive push lifted ISTEP results to record levels for the district.
Successes by Wabash Valley schools were not limited to South Vermillion. In Vigo County School Corp. schools, 71.6 percent of students passed both sections of ISTEP, up from 70.5 percent the year before. Statewide, 71 percent of students passed the language arts and math sections, an upgrade from 70 percent in 2011.
“Hoosiers from all walks of life should greet this news with a standing ovation,” said Tony Bennett, state superintendent of public instruction.
Hoosiers should also keep ISTEP in perspective. Many educators legitimately complain that the state and federal emphasis on standardized testing now borders on obsession and forces teachers to “teach to the test.” Classroom creativity is limited, they contend, to only activities that will directly result in higher ISTEP scores. Learning undoubtedly occurs through intensified preparations for ISTEP, and regular accountability of teachers, administrators and school districts certainly benefits the kids in their classrooms.
Still, Indiana residents need to demand parallel scrutiny of the value and relevance of these ever-evolving standardized tests, especially as the state moves toward full implementation of the Common Core State Standards — a nationwide initiative to bring uniformity to the various states’ curricula. Just as Indiana students, educators and their school systems are constantly being publicly assessed, so should the testing process itself.
Improvements shown by students statewide, and in individual districts such as South Vermillion and Vigo County, reflect the desire of educators to deliver excellence in the classroom, the willingness of parents and community members to provide the proper resources, and the kids themselves to learn.
To all of them, we say, “Bravo.”
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Focus, cooperation raising test scores for public schools
Cheers for the success, but perspective needed
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Noteworthy in the news: MVC tourney an event worth having
It’s been a long time since the Missouri Valley Conference chose Indiana State University to host its post-season baseball tournament, but Terre Haute had never been more prepared for an event such as this.
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EDITORIAL: Cleaning up voter rolls
It’s not a lot of money in the big scheme of things, but the $2 million designated in the recent session of the General Assembly will begin the messy but necessary process of cleaning up Indiana’s voter registration rolls.
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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Noteworthy in the news: MVC tourney an event worth having
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