ISTEP review panel's leader says exam is 'just too long'

Other members include Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz, legislators and educators from traditional public and charter schools.

While Ritz has long called for student testing to be rethought, the idea to scrap the ISTEP did not gain currency until recent months with Pence and legislative Republicans, who have supported school accountability measures that use student scores on the test to determine school grades and help award teacher merit pay.

Fama leads a school that the Indianapolis Public Schools this fall will convert to a setup similar to a charter school where it remains in the district but won't have to follow the district's collective bargaining agreement with the teachers union.