Referendum Money has Made Test Scores Worse

“Just look at Avon’s ILEARN scores. Money makes things worse.”

This chart, drafted by Taxpayers 4 Avon Schools PAC, does a better job explaining Avon’s ILEARN scores than the context-less graphic on social media.

Don’t believe the chatter. Standardized testing results can be misrepresented if they’re not interpreted correctly. The constantly changing standards and assessment measures in Indiana are why Avon shares test scores in terms of overall state ranking*. This compares Avon Schools to other districts across the state who are all impacted by the changing measures.

The Operating Referendum has made things better!

The community’s support – in the form of the additional funds provided by the voter-approved Operating Referendum – is making things much, much better.

A chart recently made the rounds on social media claiming to show Avon’s performance on ISTEP/ILEARN from 2017 to 2025. It attempted to illustrate that Avon’s standardized testing scores fell after the community approved the Operating Referendum in 2018.

There were mistakes in the data shared — but most was correct — on face value. However, it failed to take a few very important factors into account:

• The state changed assessments between 2018 and 2019. ISTEP was replaced by ILEARN, a much more rigorous test, resulting in a 13% state-wide drop in scores.

• We experienced a global pandemic in 2020 that dramatically affected standardized test scores across the state (and the nation) in 2021.

• The state changed English/Language Arts and Math standards in 2023, altering the assessment as a result.

• The state changed ILEARN yet again in 2025.

The constantly changing standards and assessment measures in Indiana are why Avon shares success in terms of overall state ranking. This compares Avon Schools to other districts across the state who are all impacted by the changing measures.

An analogy

Imagine you’re on a swim team. In a 25-meter pool, you can swim a lap in 45 seconds. If the pool length was increased to 50 meters, your time would climb to at least 90 seconds. You can’t compare lap times in different sized pools. Just because you could do a 45-second lap in one pool doesn’t mean you can do the same in another. Your lap time would get even longer if you could only use one arm. This is essentially what has happened due to the state’s changes in the test (the pool got longer) and the COVID pandemic (students had to perform amid adversity).

let’s dive deeper

How is Avon doing compared to Indiana’s 292 public school districts?

• In 2017, when Avon’s class sizes were largest and students had far fewer supports, we ranked 42nd in Indiana.

• Voters approved the Referendum in 2018 as our rank reached its lowest mark – 55th.

• In 2025, Avon students achieved their highest state rank in a decade, 25th.

From 2017 to 2025, Avon Schools improved 17 places, well into the top 10% of Indiana school districts. And we’ve widened the gap between our performance and the state's performance – from 10.3% above in 2017 to 15.2% above in 2025.

an even deeper appreciation of Avon’s growth

Avon’s demographics have changed significantly since 2017. Research indicates that students who are multilingual or on free/reduced lunch are just as capable as other students. However, these students understandably struggle demonstrating proficiency on standardized tests. Just look at how we’ve changed in these two important measures:

• In 2017, 4.4% of students were multilingual and 27.9% received free/reduced lunch

• In 2025, 16.7% of ACSC students are multilingual (+12.3%) and 49.1% receive free/reduced lunch (+21.2%).

The community’s support – in the form of the additional funds provided by the voter-approved Operating Referendum – is making things much, much better.

Thank you for supporting our students!

*Here’s a much better, simpler, more accurate way to represent Avon students’ achievements on ISTEP/ILEARN.