Lisa Lantrip
HANCOCK COUNTY — The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) released Indiana Learning Evaluation and Assessment Readiness Network (ILearn) scores for the 2022-23 school year late last week.
Officials with IDOE report there is a “modest increase” in math performance and a “relatively stable” performance in English/language arts (ELA) for students who participated in the ILearn assessment in the 2022-23 school year. The testing was for students in grades three through eight in Indiana, as well as high school biology students.
According to IDOE data, Hancock County students are above the state proficiency levels of 30.7%, for the percentage of kids passing ELA and math combined. The state proficient levels for ELA is 40.73% while the state proficient level in math is 40.86%.
Southern Hancock schools lead the way in all county ILearn scores with 46.4% proficiency in both ELA and math. The district is at 55.2% in ELA proficiency and 59.3% in math.
“The Southern Hancock Community School Corporation is extremely proud of our students, staff and community,” Superintendent Lisa Lantrip said. “We continue to see strong academic growth and achievement in every school and at every level.”
Lantrip noted scores are the best they have been in recent years and continue to largely exceed the state average by 11-28% in both Math and ELA.
“Our Professional Learning Community has worked tirelessly in its pursuit of excellence, and we intend to relentlessly continue our efforts to get even better,” she said.
New Palestine Elementary was the bright spot with 61.5% proficiency in ELA and 76% proficiency in math.
Greenfield-Central Schools are at 31.6% proficiency in both ELA and math; 39.5% in ELA and 47.6% in math. Those are scores superintendent Harold Olin is not pleased with.
“I do not know too many educators who would be excited about passing rates that indicate less than half of the students are demonstrating mastery,” Olin said. “I would put myself in that camp.”
Olin noted the district has shown some modest improvements but still has a lot of work to do to get students caught up.
After reviewing the data for Indiana, Olin notes the level in ELA is right at the state average, but not good enough, he said.
“That is not the bar we hold ourselves to,” Olin said.
The district’s mathematics achievement level is quite a bit higher than the state average at all grade levels (3rd through 8th).
“That mark surpasses the state average by 11% and 13% in grades 3 and 4, so we believe we are building some strong mathematics practices in the early grades,” Olin said. “We simply need to keep building on that early success.”
The bright spot for G-C schools was at Eden Elementary, where 81.1% of students were proficient in math while 62.2% were proficient in ELA.
Mt. Vernon schools scored 35.4% proficiency in both ELA and math; 43.5% in ELA and 50.6% proficiency in math.
“Our ILEARN data resembles statewide data in math with a modest increase in most grade levels,” said Scott Shipley, Mt. Vernon’s director of curriculum.
Shipley noted the cohort of students with the largest gain in math from 2022 to 2023 was the 6th-grade cohort with a 5% increase while their ELA data remained relatively stable in most grade levels similar to the statewide data.
“Our grade level that had the largest gain in ELA was 5th grade with a 3% increase. The cohort of students with the largest gain ELA from 2022 to 2023 was the 7th-grade cohort with a 2% increase,” he said.
McCordsville Elementary was the bright spot in the district, where 62.2% tested proficient in math.
Eastern Hancock students showed proficiency in both ELA and math at a 33.3% level. The ELA proficiency level was at 40.1% while the math proficiency level was at 51.4%.
“I don’t think there will ever be a time when educators at Eastern Hancock, or probably anywhere, will feel like our ILEARN scores are as good as we want them to be,” Superintendent George Philhower said.
While he noted they are always so proud of their students and teachers, there is much work to be done.
“We have plans to continue to work hard to do everything we can to make sure that the scores from the tests students take for a few days in the spring match the amazing things we see from them on the other 186 school days each school year,” Philhower said.
The bright spot for EH was the math score for the elementary school, where 63.5% of the students were proficient in math.
Both state and local officials note they are continuing to monitor the impact of the pandemic, but will not use that as an excuse.
“It certainly created some obstacles, yet we are committed to overcoming them,” Olin said.
For complete county school results visit, www.in.gov/doe/it/data-center-and-reports.
