For several years now, ISTEP+ results have been grim for local schools. This year likely won't be any different.

The Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus standardized test results were scheduled to be released at 10 a.m. today by the state.

Historically, Fort Wayne Community Schools and East Allen County Schools have scored low on all tested areas - English/language arts, math and science - even failing to meet state averages; and while the districts have made changes, they don't expect them to appear on this year's results.

The ISTEP+ test measures how well students in Grades 3-8 and 10 know the material taught in their classes.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and Public Law 221, a state accountability law, schools face penalties if their performance fails to meet standards.

After last year's ISTEP+ results, EACS missed Adequate Yearly Progress for the fourth time in six years. AYP is based on ISTEP+, as well as attendance rates for elementary and middle schools and graduation rates for high schools. Under state sanctions, a fourth miss means restructuring, which the district did in a couple of its schools, but not as a result of AYP.

EACS actually changed the structure of Southwick and Village elementary schools to provide more space within the buildings.

“(Southwick was) overcrowded. They were stressed,” said EACS Deputy Superintendent Jan MacLean. “Just the climate in the (two) schools has improved.”

Whether that will help academics is yet to be known.

“Any time you make a change that you hope will make a positive impact, it takes time,” MacLean said, explaining better results may not be seen this year, even with the shift in administration that was also meant to help scores.

FWCS is facing its seventh miss on AYP with unfavorable results on this year's ISTEP+, a number that is beyond the state's labeled sanctions.

The number of third- and fourth-graders passing the math section dropped significantly from last year, according to John Kline, FWCS director of school improvement, with only 59 percent of third-graders and 65 percent of fourth-graders passing. No specific data were available by press time for the rest of the district.

Across FWCS, most every grade in all sections saw fewer students passing, Kline said. In the high schools, FWCS is striving to improve academics by creating track programs within the six schools, starting with Wayne next fall with New Tech. New Tech is a national program that focuses on project-based learning and encourages the use of new technology in problem solving.

The other programs are Elmhurst's international business, North Side's international studies and world languages, Northrop's engineering, Snider's health/life sciences and South Side's International Baccalaureate with a fine-arts enhancement.

“As we get better at teaching reading, teaching math, teaching science … we hope that (the students) will get better as they go to older grades,” Kline said. “It's not just a one-level issue.”

In the past, Northwest and Southwest Allen County schools districts have shown high percentages of their students passing all three sections of the test.

SACS, which has already released its results, did see drops in nearly every grade and subject area, but managed to keep about 80-plus percent of its students passing ISTEP+. The district is especially proud of Whispering Meadows Elementary School, which saw more than 90 percent of its third-grade students passing both the English/language arts and math sections.

“This is our school with the ESL (English as a Second Language) program and the highest poverty rate, and look what they were able to do,” SACS Assistant Superintendent Nancy Carey told the school board Tuesday night.

NACS has also traditionally done well in the past, even though both districts tended to struggle in the science area, as did most schools across the state. NACS' results will be released today.

Next year, ISTEP+ will be different.

The state announced in 2007 that the test will be taken in the spring rather than the fall.

Beginning in March, Grades 3-8 will take the new spring ISTEP+ test, which consists of two sections: writing in March and progress, or multiple-choice questions, in April. The test will appear a bit different, though.

As in the fall, Grades 3-8 will be tested on English/language arts and math, but students in Grades 4 and 6 will be tested on science and Grades 5 and 7 on social studies.

Also, in place of the graduation qualifying exam, which is required for students to earn an Indiana high school diploma, Grades 9 and 10 will take end-of-course assessments for English 10 and Algebra I.

The Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus, better known as the ISTEP+, measures understanding of the material taught in the previous grade based on Indiana's academic standards. Third- through eighth-graders and 10th-graders took the test in September. It covered English and math, plus science in Grades 5 and 7. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and Public Law 221, a state accountability law, schools face penalties if their students don't do well on the test.