Wayne County confronts ILEARN results

State testing results indicate that students in most Wayne County school districts are struggling with academic performance in English and math.

While many performed close to Indiana’s statewide proficiency percentages, most districts demonstrated well below 50% proficiency. Only approximately 25% of students in the county’s largest school district are considered proficient.  

Indiana Department of Education shared the spring’s ILEARN test results last week with the public through its website.

While school leaders see some positives from the spring Indiana Learning Evaluation and Readiness Network, or ILEARN, tests for grades 3-8, they’re also analyzing the results for ways to improve as the 2024-2025 school year nears.

Centerville-Abington Community Schools Superintendent Mike McCoy said district employees continue to set “very high expectations” for themselves and their students. 

“If we do not finish first in Wayne County and high in the state, the results are not what we want,” McCoy said. “We have ways to assess our progress and find areas to look to see what is going well while finding areas that we will need to look closely at to see what needs to change.”

He said Indiana’s emphasis on testing causes CACS employees to rewrite curriculum and look at state standards throughout the year. 

But, McCoy balances that with the belief that one bad testing day can skew students’ results, and some of their growth simply doesn’t show in test results.   

“However, we also feel it is important to promote a love for learning and a desire to be among their peers to experience real-life lessons,” McCoy said.

Scores at a glance

ILEARN showed 41.0% of Indiana’s students at or above proficiency standards in ELA, and 40.7% of students at or above proficiency standards in math. This is up 0.5 and 3.8 percentage points respectively since 2021.

Statewide, most grade levels slightly increased in English/language arts (ELA) proficiency, while math proficiency slightly decreased following significant growth since the pandemic.

Among Wayne County’s public school districts, Nettle Creek led in ELA with 44.7%, followed closely by Northeastern Wayne (44.2%), Centerville-Abington (41.5%) and Western Wayne (38.5%). 

Overall, Richmond Community Schools’ ELA proficiency was 24.9%, but when individual public schools are reviewed, its Charles Elementary led with 63.6%. 

Seton Catholic High School led local independent schools with 67.8%.

Total proficiency isn’t guaranteed, even for suburban Indianapolis districts that have strong reputations. For instance, ELA proficiency was 53.1% for Avon Community, 59.2% for Noblesville, 61% for Westfield-Washington, 61.2% for Hamilton Southeastern, and 69.6% for Carmel Clay and Brownsburg.  

Wayne County’s public district leader in math proficiency is Centerville-Abington (42.5%), followed by Northeastern Wayne (38.9%), Nettle Creek (37.6%), Western Wayne (32.2%) and RCS (22.5%). Charles Elementary again led the county’s individual public schools at 71.8%.  Seton Catholic Intermediate led private schools (39.4%).

Educators see some positives in the results. For instance, McCoy said CACS’ scores improved from grade level to grade level through elementary. 

“That tells me we have some good things in place that are allowing students to grow and reach a high level before going to the junior high school,” McCoy said. “Our sixth-grade results are excellent and an area we will focus on to see what took us to the next level of success.”

McCoy said these results show that CACS needs to focus more on the lower grades and getting students where they need to be prior to third grade testing. 

ELA was Centerville’s lowest score in third grade. Some pilot programs began in 2023-2024 to help elementary and junior high students improve their writing process and be able to express what they know. Those efforts will continue, he said. 

One change that might have long-term benefits for CACS is increasing the size of its preschool in 2024-2025. Educators are eager to get more students into the building and learning prior to kindergarten.

WWN reached out to representatives of other districts for reactions but did not receive responses as of press time.

Boosting future learning

Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said several key tactics have been put in place to support educators, parents/families and students for future growth. 

Jenner said the new ILEARN Checkpoints, launching as a pilot in the upcoming school year, will provide more actionable data throughout the year, leading to more strategic, increased support for students. 

McCoy encourages area families and residents who are concerned about student achievement to work directly with children. 

He suggests that community members volunteer at schools as a mentor for students who are struggling and don’t have the support they need to clear the hurdles that life throws at them. 

“Let the students share what they know and what they are learning, and listen to the excitement when they are successful,” McCoy said. “Read with children when they are young and challenge them to try new and more difficult things to grow. We are constantly working with the community to grow what we offer at CACS, but the greatest impact on learning will come from simply taking the time to promote the belief that learning is important and success in education will be celebrated as a family and a community.”