Indiana unveils draft of A-F school grades model valuing tests and student skills

Indianapolis Star

4 days ago

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) released its first draft of its new grading model for schools that, for the first time in the state's history, takes into account not just test scores, but also a student's unique educational experience.
The department was tasked with creating a new A-F school grading model after lawmakers passed House Bill 1498 this legislative session.
Now, the state must create a new methodology for grading how schools perform and hand out letter grades for each campus by the end of 2026.
On June 4, 2025, state leaders presented the first draft of the grading model to the Indiana State Board of Education and Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner says it elevates academic mastery and skill development to be successful after high school.
'While the specifics will iterate along the way, our primary goal will remain the same: to ensure that our future accountability model values all of the key characteristics essential to student success, as well as every student's unique pathway,' Jenner said in a statement.
The board must approve the grading criteria by the end of 2025, but it will have a series of public hearings and likely publish a second draft before the model reaches its final vote.
This first draft of the grading model was made with the foundation of considering the five characteristics already used in the state's 'Graduates Prepared to Succeed' platform, which gathers data points to evaluate schools on:
To evaluate academic mastery, the state will look at standardized test scores from ILEARN, IREAD and the SAT.
To grade career and postsecondary readiness, they will see how many diploma seals are earned.
To grade work ethic, the state will look at attendance rates.
Evaluating the civic, financial and digital literacy will come from the required coursework mandatory for all students in those fields.
Grading the communication and collaboration characteristics is being formulated.
This draft of how schools will be graded looks at specific points in a student's K-12 journey, with an emphasis on grades 3-8, 10th grade and 12th grade.
The letter grades for schools in this first draft are based on the 0-100 scale with an 'F' grade meaning schools only got 0-59 points, a 'D' grade 60-69 points, a 'C' grade 70-79 points, a 'B' grade 80-89 points and an 'A' grade is 90-100 points.
At the elementary level, schools will be graded on how well students perform on ELA and math standardized testing, as well as reading proficiency, specifically among third graders. Attendance will also be a factor in how schools are graded.
Schools teaching students in grades 4-6 will be graded on how well students perform on math, science and social studies tests, as well as whether students are progressing academically compared to the prior year.
More background on this move: Indiana schools will again receive A-F grades, but how they will be measured undecided
High schools will be judged, in part, on students' SAT performance, graduation rates, work-based learning, and certain credentials or college-level credits earned.
The draft also includes a possibility of grading schools on how many English language learning students meet their language proficiency goals that year.
While the formal 30-day public feedback window isn't technically open yet, parents can submit feedback to the IDOE on this first draft starting now.
Anyone who wishes to submit feedback can do so through an online Jotform.
Once the 30-day public comment period opens later this summer, the IDOE will also hold a public hearing where anyone can provide comments in person.
A second draft is expected to be shared late summer or early fall, in which another 30-day window of public comment will happen.
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