New Haven Middle School
East Allen County Schools
900 Prospect Avenue, New Haven, IN 46774-1697
Telephone 260-446-0230 Fax 260-446-0236
Chad M. Houser SteveWalter Deborah Rupp/Karen Eckert
Principal Asst. Principal & Athletics SchoolCounselor
August 25, 2017
Dear Parents/Guardians & Students,
We have been off to a great start here at New Haven Middle and looking forward to all the exciting things this year. This past school year was a success and we saw tremendous growth in our students. Our NWEA results this past year were the best they have been in recent years in terms of growth. We commend our students, staff, and parents for their role in making this year a success.
Not to long agoyou received a letter with information regarding Spring 2017 ISTEP+ results. The letter provided you a code for you to view your student’s preliminary Spring 2017 ISTEP+ results through the ISTEP+ Parent Portal. You are now receiving a hard copy of your student’s official results. This past spring during the ISTEP+ test, New Haven Middle Schoolexperienced some issues with themath portion of the test.
While preparing for the test Pearson, the state’s testing vendor, supplied us with inaccurate information resulting in a portion of our math test being invalidated. Pearson incorrectly told NHMS to allow calculator use for an ISTEP section for which they weren't permitted. The Indiana Department of Education has been very supportive and doing all they can to help us and hold Pearson Education accountable for their mistake. Many of you children received scores of “Undetermined”. Federal rules from the U.S. Department of Education and state policies require scores to be labeled as "undetermined."
We have provided documentation that New Haven Middle School was in compliance with instructions from Pearson Education. Despite appeals to the IDOE and documentation that clearly shows the error was with the instructions from Pearson not ours, the IDOE instructed us to invalidate all of our math tests of the students affected.
The affected students were not allowed to retake the ISTEP+ and NHMS was one of many schools throughout the state that have been effected. Due to the error by Pearson Education it will cause our school to not meet its 95% participation rate that is required, which could result in a lower letter grade for the school. Pearson’s inaccurate guidance could possibly have a negative impact on our overall A-F letter accountability grade, however, it is not a direct reflection of our students’ progress. East Allen County Schools and New Haven Middle will be filing an appeal to the IDOE for our A-F letter accountability grade once received.
Your partner in education,
Chad M. Houser
Principal