Latest news with #IndianaDepartmentofEducation
Indianapolis Star
6 days ago
- Business
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana unveils draft of A-F school grades model valuing tests and student skills
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. Keep up with school news: Sign up for Study Hall, IndyStar's free weekly education newsletter.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Concord, Baugo present work-based learning apprenticeship programs to state leader
ELKHART — Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner visited Concord schools on Tuesday to learn more about the district's preparations toward Indiana's new graduation requirements and celebrate accomplishments recently made in the district. 'Really it comes down to some key things of how do we help every student to know their value, know the possibilities for their life's path and really help them discover their purpose and set them on that best path for success,' Jenner said. 'It's keeping kids number one every single day, all the time, and connecting them to their dream job.' Superintendent Dan Funston told her about the district's invitation to be a part of the Carnegie Foundation's Future High School Network among just 24 nationwide and brought students and staff alongside him to discuss how the district is redesigning the high school experience with help from the Indiana Department of Education. One of those students was Concord alumni Bianca Jimenez-Ortiz, who spoke about her time at Concord in the apprenticeship program. Jimenez-Ortiz graduated from Grace College on Saturday and was the nation's first paralegal apprentice graduate, through the Horizon Education Alliance. 'Even being at college, I was able to test out of some criminal, business law and baseline classes because of the experiences that I had at the prosecutor's office,' she said. 'I was the first paralegal apprentice in the United States, which is really exciting.' Jimenez-Ortiz said she's been seeing doors open for her continually. 'It's truly the greatest testimony of what this program does and how investing in it is something that we should be doing,' she said. Jimenez Ortiz was joined by younger cohort students: Taylynn Calhoun, a first-grade and paraprofessional educator-apprentice at Ox Bow; Karen Villanueva, a third-grade and paraprofessional educator-apprentice at West Side; Will Delio, work-based learning student at Elkhart Environmental Center and the Aquatic Biology Lab at Elkhart Public Works; Lucas Prough, work-based learning at Notre Dame Mass Spectrometry & Proteomics Facility; and Ty Zartman of Jimtown, a second-year apprentice at Hoosier Crane. 'It's important to have these work-based learning experiences to create connections in your life,' Prough said. 'Having these connections in high school is going to impact my future largely.' Todd Cook of Hoosier Crane joined Zartman at Concord to talk about the business' partnership with HEA and the schools. Hoosier Crane has one of the longest running apprenticeship programs the schools offer. 'We've done internships at Hoosier Crane over the years; we've probably had 30-40 interns over the years in my 18 years there,' he said. 'The youth apprenticeship program came to us about six years ago. The concept, the idea, honestly, I embraced it wholeheartedly as a leader in the organization because it self-served.' Cook said the internship program would simply introduce students to business and then they'd move on. With the apprenticeship program, they're training students to do what they do and today about 10% of the workforce nationwide is youth apprentices. Cook said interestingly, the team members also perform better when apprenticeships are around. 'They don't want to take shortcuts, they want to show you how it's done,' he said. 'This is how you do it the right way … So it's risen our existing talent in our own employee base throughout the company and really.' Jenner said that businesses across Indiana are shifting, like Hoosier Crane from interns to apprenticeships, because it creates a better return on investment. Becca Roberts, Concord High School College and Career Readiness adviser, said 145 students interested in apprenticeships were vetted by guidance counselors and then 20 were interviewed. 'I'm here to say to businesses, we need you. The kids are eager to learn in an actual work-place setting,' Roberts said. Baugo Community Schools Superintendent Byron Sanders also stopped by with some of his district's students and employees the districts partner with. 'All of this work Concord does in Elkhart County, we're duplicating a lot of work, so it's important for us to work together and Baugo's been a major partner in everything we're trying to do,' Funston said. Funston said Concord has 22 apprentices and Baugo has 14, and said he believes it might be the most in the state. 'We have a system that doesn't create redundancies,' Sanders added. 'It's been a problem for schools. Everybody's tasked with the same responsibility to try to get exposure for students and then we seem to bombard our business partners in the community with district after district after district trying to do the same things and so we recognize that working together is smarter and not harder.' Funston also announced during the visit that West Side Elementary School was reported as the highest achieving 50%+ EL school in the state of Indiana. With an IREAD percentage up over 20%, Funston said they anticipate testing later in the year to be over 35%. Jenner also visited West Side to celebrate their success and discuss early literacy.
Indianapolis Star
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana brings back A-F grades, but exactly how schools will be measured undecided
Schools across Indiana will start seeing A-F letter grades again in 2026, thanks to a law signed by Gov. Mike Braun after the practice was suspended for seven years. House Bill 1498 requires the state board of education to approve a new methodology for school performance by the end of this year and then assign schools A-F grades based on that new methodology. The final vote on the bill in the House fell mostly along party lines with a 65-25 vote. The bill also includes some specifics that the methodology must be based upon metrics listed in the Indiana Department of Education's Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) dashboard, including proficiency rates for IREAD and ILEARN and the attainment of diploma seals. However, the bill also allows the state board of education to include whatever other factors they deem necessary in the methodology. The state must hand out letter grades for all schools across the state, including private schools, no later than Dec. 31, 2026. Schools would not get a letter grade for the 2024-25 year. Indiana stopped handing out letter grades in 2018 as the state was attempting to revamp the grading methodology to accommodate the new ILEARN test. Then, grades were delayed even further due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said during the House Education committee hearing on HB 1498 that previously she had advocated moving away from a single letter grade for schools, but admitted parents had come to her asking for an easier way to understand how schools are doing. More School news: ACLU sues Gov. Mike Braun after law eliminates Indiana University trustee elections She said parents found the many metrics listed on the Indiana GPS dashboard to be confusing and wanted an easier way to gauge a school's success. The bill also allows the IDOE to consider eliminating high school diploma waivers altogether, which allow qualifying students to be exempt from certain graduation requirements under the state's 'graduation pathways.' Jenner said that since the state's overall waiver usage has been going down steadily in recent years, she doesn't see the need to make drastic changes to that right now. 'Our data is going in the right direction there, and I think we have to ensure we're working with schools, parents and families so we're never pulling the rug out too early,' Jenner said during the House Education Committee meeting in January. Some Democratic lawmakers said during committee hearings on the bill that they think using a single letter grade is too simplistic for something as complex as how a school is working for its students. Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, suggested that rather than a letter grade, schools instead be shown as either needing state intervention or not. His amendment to include that failed to pass. Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said during the Senate committee hearing on the bill that he hopes the metrics for grading include more than just testing scores, which could unfairly punish predominantly low-income schools compared to wealthier schools. Erin Geddes, who sends her three kids to Warren Township schools, told IndyStar she's worried the letter grades will just further divide wealthy districts from the lower-income ones. More changes coming: Once a school board member, Gov. Braun signs law making school board elections partisan 'These grades do nothing to highlight excellent teachers and administrative staff who are doing everything they can with what resources, support, or home life their students come from,' Geddes said. Instead, Geddes thinks the state should be asking families how they would grade their schools. 'Ask us parents because we're the experts on our own kids, and that way it isn't a collective punishment on our own schools, which we chose for our kids,' Geddes said. Other parents like Jennifer Goetz, who has three children at Avon Community schools and was a former teacher at a Chicago public school, believe the letter grades will reinforce the wrong things. She's worried the grades will further pressure schools to only teach students how to pass tests, instead of making sure they learn the skills they need to be strong in reading and math in the future. 'That's what I saw when I was teaching in Chicago, just the pressure to meet the grades and not necessarily ensure authentic learning was happening,' Goetz told IndyStar. However, getting back to delivering a letter grade for every public and private school in Indiana is something that lawmakers and the state department have been wanting since the state's newest standardized test, ILEARN, was implemented. Republican lawmakers supporting the bill said letter grades are an important aspect of holding schools responsible for student success. "School accountability is really important and this is a giant step in that direction," said Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, during floor discussion on the bill. During the January state board of education meeting, Jenner gave a presentation on a tentative framework of what the state's accountability model for grade schools could be based on. During that meeting, she explained that the current grading model for grades 3-8 is primarily focused on state assessments and academic growth. For high school grades, it was based on state assessments and other indicators like college and career readiness and graduation rates. Keep up with school news: Sign up for Study Hall, IndyStar's free weekly education newsletter. Some of the changes Jenner then proposed for grading third grade included literacy rates, something already required under HB 1498, but also student attendance improvements. For grades 4-8, Jenner proposed attendance metrics as well as growth in ILEARN math and ELA, as well as advanced coursework. For the high school grades, Jenner suggested that attendance metrics, advanced coursework, attainment of diploma seals, work-based learning and earning credentials of value be included in the grading metrics.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers End Racial and Ethnic Studies Course Mandate, Make More Education Changes as Session Ends
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Indiana lawmakers wrapped up the 2025 legislative session early Friday with a final vote on a two-year state budget that provides a 2% annual increase in funding for schools and establishes a universal school voucher program to begin next year. They also passed several education bills that are poised to transform teaching and learning in Indiana. Among them was a 116-page deregulation bill with provisions that end requirements for high schools to offer at least one semester of an elective racial or ethnic studies course per school year. This 11th-hour change apparently came at the request of the Indiana Department of Education after correspondence from the U.S. Department of Education regarding state code, Republican Sen. Jeff Raatz said late Thursday in floor discussions about House Bill 1002. The U.S. Department of Education recently ordered states to certify in writing that they're not participating in what the Trump administration says are illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, or else risk losing federal funding. Raatz did not specify if that was the correspondence he was referring to. The administration's effort has run into roadblocks in the courts. Raatz said $1 billion in education funding for federally funded programs like school lunches was at risk if lawmakers didn't remove the course requirement. But the change in Indiana code doesn't prohibit schools from offering such courses. And the federal Education Department has said that 'schools with programs focused on interests in particular cultures, heritages, and areas of the world would not in and of themselves violate' federal civil rights law as it relates to DEI, 'assuming they are open to all students regardless of race.' 'Sometimes I have to do things I don't necessarily want to do,' Raatz said in response to questioning from Democratic Sen. Greg Taylor, who authored the 2017 law about the racial and ethnic studies courses. 'But bottom line is, we cannot as the state of Indiana … forgo a billion dollars in our education system.' 'Are you going to tell me that we're not brave enough to hold pat on an elective course for kids because the federal government says 'we could cut your funding'?' Taylor said in comments, referring to the law as one of his chief accomplishments. State lawmakers this year have also leaned into other culture war issues they previously declined to take up against the backdrop of a changing political landscape. One bill will allow school board candidates to declare a political party, ending the state's practice of nonpartisan school board elections. Another prohibits state employees, including teachers, from teaching or training that moral character is determined by people's 'personal characteristics,' or that they should be blamed for actions committed in the past, in an echo of several attempts to pass such legislation in recent years. And Gov. Mike Braun has already signed an expansion of the restrictions on transgender women competing on women's sports teams that affects colleges and universities. But not all legislation this year tackles social issues. State leaders hope that new requirements for math education in line with the push to implement the science of reading will lead to a boost in math scores similar to students' gains in literacy. And with a new framework for categorizing and reducing absences, they hope to address an absenteeism rate that has remained stubbornly high since COVID. Here are the education bills that passed the 2025 legislative session. Those already signed by Braun have been marked with an asterisk. The rest are on their way to his desk. Description: The property tax reform bill was amended to change how and how much residents would receive in property tax deductions and credits. The bill also now includes parts of SB 518, which requires school districts to share property tax revenues for operations with charter schools. Read more. Description: Stipulates that the government may not interfere in a parent's right to direct the upbringing of their child unless there is a compelling governmental interest. It also specifies that the bill cannot be construed to allow a parent to access medical care for their child that the child is not legally allowed to have, such as puberty blockers and other gender-affirming care currently banned for minors in Indiana, according to examples given in committee. Description: Increases minimum teacher salaries to $45,000. Read more. Description: Amends provisions that allow school corporations to provide a supplemental payment to teachers in excess of negotiated salary and allows districts to exclude revenue from bargaining for this purpose. Description: Allows secondary students to receive religious instruction during the school day equivalent to the time spent attending an elective course. Requires the Department of Education to grant initial practitioner licenses to individuals who hold degrees in STEM subjects and have completed a certain number of teaching courses. Shortens the timeline for reporting bullying investigations to parents. Description: Allows school board candidates in Indiana to declare a party affiliation. Read more. Description: The bill prohibits state employers, including public schools, from requiring employees to attend training that includes the ideas that a person's moral character is determined by their personal characteristics, or that they should be blamed for 'actions committed in the past.' It prohibits state employees from implementing these ideas or compelling students to do so. Description: Requires a school where fewer than 70% of students passed the IREAD to participate in the Indiana Literacy Cadre. Prohibits parents educating only their children from using ESA funds for tuition and fees Language on counselors has been removed. Description: Requires reports of student outcomes out of certain career and technical education and postsecondary programs. Description: Ends a provision allowing parents to request to transfer their children to school districts outside their legal settlement for better accommodation reasons. Removes a requirement that a superintendent must discuss a plan for annual performance evaluations with a teacher or the teacher's representative. Description: Would change summer school reimbursement to a per-student instead of program cost basis. Also requires that the evaluation process for STEM and reading materials must include the age appropriateness of the content. Amendments to create transportation and facility boards and mastery-based pilot programs have been removed. Read more. Description: Prohibits school districts from using sex ed materials that have not been approved by their governing boards. Requires sex ed courses to show a fetal development video and emphasize the importance of consent. Description: Makes several higher education changes. Codifies the state's announcement that students who earn a new Honors Enrollment Plus diploma earn acceptance to the state's public colleges and universities, but stipulates that this acceptance does not guarantee admission to a specific program. Requires the Commission of Higher Education to prepare an enrollment report for each college and university and their programs of computer science that disaggregates how many students are Indiana residents and not, and how many are U.S. citizens and not. Outlines a process for colleges and universities to approve or disapprove new degrees and programs. Description: Defines chronic absenteeism and requires the education department to establish a categorization framework to distinguish between excused and unexcused absences based on the reason for the absence. Description: With more than 70 provisions, this 130-page bill repeals and removes both expired and existing education statutes within Indiana code. Some notable points include: Removes a requirement that if a governing body grants a charter to a charter school, they must also provide a noncharter school for students to attend, allowing districts to become all-charter. Removes requirements for the secretary of education to have teaching and education leadership experience. Reduces the notice that schools must provide if they eliminate transportation. Requires the department to make a list of best practices and guidelines regarding classroom behavioral management strategies and a list of best practices to reduce student discipline. Keeps some requirements for teacher preparation programs to train teachers on trauma-informed practices, and positive behavioral interventions, but removes other requirements related to cultural competency and social emotional learning. Read more. Removes a requirement that school districts and charter schools must offer a course studying ethnic and racial groups as a one semester elective course in its high school curriculum at least once every school year. Description: Prohibits transgender women from playing on women's sports teams at the university level, and requires out-of-state teams to notify Indiana teams if a trans athlete is allowed to play on a women's team. Description: No longer requires a school corporation to offer a cash payment option at athletic events. Amended to allow students to request to transfer school districts for athletic reasons. Description: Removes language restricting school corporations from entering into a contract with a religiously affiliated nonprofit preschool program. Description: Various changes to child care requirements, including removing the requirement that children receiving care from a school must be children of students or employees. Description: Makes several changes to special education practices, including: Prohibits schools from adopting policies to prevent parents from recording IEP meetings. Requires schools to employ one person who has obtained nonviolent crisis intervention training. Description: Provides that a high school diploma issued by a nonaccredited nonpublic school (a nonaccredited private or home school) is legally sufficient to demonstrate that the recipient of the diploma or credential has met the requirements to complete high school. Provides that a state or local agency or institution of higher education in Indiana may not reject or otherwise treat a person differently based solely on the source of a diploma or credential. Description: Requires the DOE to create a new A-F grading metric for schools. Read more. Description: Creates more exemptions to the third grade retention requirements, particularly for Description: Requires IDOE to submit a report on the academic readiness of virtual students. Establishes a mastery-based education pilot program. Establishes centralized school facilities and transportation boards. Establishes the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance to conduct a school facilities assessment and establish a school facilities and transportation implementation plan. Read more. Provides that a land use application for any approval that is required by a unit for a public school, charter school, or nonpublic school may not be denied for the sole reason that the requesting entity is seeking to establish a public school, charter school, or nonpublic school. Description: Requires schools to automatically enroll certain students into advanced math courses in middle school and allows parents to opt students in as well. Establishes requirements for math screening, evaluation, and intervention, and spells out requirements for teaching math. Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@ Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. The post Lawmakers End Racial and Ethnic Studies Course Mandate, Make More Education Changes as Session Ends appeared first on Capital B Gary.
Axios
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Indiana Statehouse: Where key education bills ended
The last days of the legislative session are a sprint where dozens of bills are passed, sometimes with substantive, never-before-seen additions, making it hard to keep track of everything that happens in those final 48 hours. Zoom in: Here are five key K-12 education issues Indiana lawmakers tackled. 📚 Ethnic studies course requirement Indiana high schools will no longer have to offer an ethnic studies course. Driving the news: The requirement, in place since 2017, was repealed as part of a last-minute change to House Bill 1002, an education deregulation bill. Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Martinsville, said the ethnic studies elective was removed at the request of the Indiana Department of Education to comply with federal prohibitions on "race-based discrimination." What they're saying:"They're concerned about losing $1 billion that comes to Indiana for education," Raatz said. "We cannot forgo that." A spokesperson for Indiana's education department did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. The other side: Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, who helped author the 2017 legislation that created the ethnic studies course requirement, was incensed by the last-minute change and said he was not told about it. Taylor said the mandate, which just required schools to offer the course, did not require teaching about any particular ethnic group. Context: According to department materials, the course "provides a framework to broaden students' perspectives concerning historical and contemporary lived experiences and cultural practices of ethnic and racial groups in the United States." Academic standards for the course included learning about historical and contemporary contributions of racial or ethnic groups, cultural practices, the histories and origins of various ethnic and racial groups and cultural self- awareness. One of the standards reads: "Students evaluate how society's responses to different social identities lead to access and/or barriers for ethnic and racial groups in relation to various societal institutions, including but not limited to education, healthcare, government and industry." 🗳️ Partisan school boards State lawmakers narrowly voted to make Indiana's school board elections partisan. State of play: House and Senate Republicans were divided on how best to establish partisan school boards. The Senate wanted to move school boards, which had been nonpartisan, to the same primary process as other elected offices. Meanwhile, the House passed a version of the bill that allowed candidates to indicate a party affiliation (or abstain) on the general election ballot. Between the lines: The issue split the Republican supermajority. On the final day of the legislative session, the Senate voted to accept the House version — but just barely. Senate Bill 287 passed 26-24. Several expressed concerns that the move will turn people away from running during a time when some communities already have trouble finding enough school board candidates. 🏫 The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance A nine-person board tasked with conducting an assessment of all public school buildings in the Indianapolis Public Schools district boundaries will be created. While the language was stripped from Senate Bill 373 in the final days of the legislative session, it was added late Thursday to House Bill 1515. How it works: Mayor Joe Hogsett and Superintendent Aleesia Johnson are on the board and they get four and two appointments to it, respectively. The IPS board president gets an appointment, too. Called the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, the group must hold its first meeting before July 1. By the end of the year, it must develop a plan for how to manage all facilities within those boundaries — those belonging to IPS and charter schools — under a new governing body and provide transportation to them. Recommendations should include a governance structure for a collaborative school system and school consolidation. 📝 A-F grades for school accountability They're baaaaaack. Why it matters: Besides the deja vu this will give veteran educators, the A-F grade labels will be applied to schools statewide starting next year. What's new: These aren't (exactly) the same letter grades. The state board of education is encouraged to consider factors beyond state standardized test scores. Between the lines: The over-reliance on those test scores was one of the criticisms of the earlier iterations of school letter grades. The other side: Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said he was concerned about going back to an accountability system that labeled some schools as "failing." 🤑 Universal vouchers It looked like Republicans' plan to expand the state's private school voucher system to all Hoosier families was in trouble when the revenue forecast revised down projections for the next two years by $2 billion. Yes, but: Where there's a will, there's a way. The budget bill delays the expansion for a year, but removes the family income cap starting in the 2026-27 school year. It's estimated that it'll cost the state an additional $94 million. What they're saying:"We are providing all parents with a choice," said House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, an advocate of universal vouchers. The other side: Critics questioned why Indiana was opting to pay for private school tuition for the wealthiest Hoosiers when the budget is so tight that the state cut access to child care subsidies and pre-kindergarten vouchers for low-income families. Those programs had been available to families living at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, but that was cut to 135% in the budget.
