'Progress Report': Listen To & Download The StateImpact Radio Special

Kyle Stokes / StateImpact Indiana

We first met Ethan Brown, a third grader in Franklin Community Schools, in May. His mom, Jamie Abbett (right), broke the news to him in March that he didn't pass the IREAD-3 on his first attempt, raising the possibility he might be held back. We followed up with Ethan and Jamie in our hour-long radio special.

To the many of you who have checked out the posts and resources in this space, many of the themes of Progress Report will sound familiar. To those who haven’t, here’s why we put together this hour of radio:

Most of the headlines you read about education in Indiana are about schools outside the traditional public school districts — charter schools, private schools accepting vouchers, and schools under new management after state takeover. Their impact cannot be ignored, and we discuss them at length in Progress Report. But these schools enroll less than 5 percent of the state’s students.

To the many of you who don’t live in charter school hotbeds, urban areas, or a community where a voucher school is geographically accessible, these headlines can therefore seem somewhat distant. Yet you sense that things have changed in your own school.

We put together Progress Report to tell you that you’re right — something has changed. We want to try to explain how and why it has changed.

If you’d like to download and listen to a copy of Progress Report, click on the widget below. Leave your comments or questions about the show. We’d be happy to discuss them with you.

• Progress Report: Education in IndianaStateImpact Indiana looks at how “free market” thinking has changed and is changing the state’s education schools.Download

Here’s a reference guide to some posts that touch on ideas we featured in the hour-long broadcast:

Testing

• What’s Next For Third Graders Who Didn’t Pass Indiana’s Reading Test, the story where we first meet Ethan Brown and his mom, Jamie Abbett.
• State Senator: Third Grade Reading Exam Represents State Overreach. State Senator Luke Kenley told StateImpact the IDOE might have overstepped its mandate in creating the IREAD-3.
• How Data Can (And Can’t) Help Schools Get Ready For High-Stakes Tests
• INTERACTIVE MAP: Spring 2012 ISTEP+ Pass Rates For Indiana’s School Districts. Find district-level results broken down by grade level here.
• SORTABLE TABLE: Spring 2012 ISTEP+ Pass Rates By Individual School. Find charter and private school results here, along with results for individual traditional public schools.
• Why Indiana’s Replacement For No Child Left Behind Might Be A Tough Sell. (The answer has a lot to do with testing.)

Choice & Competition

• Indiana’s School Vouchers Cover Tuition For Parents Who Can Pay On Their Own, featuring South Bend parent Jeanetta White and Our Lady of Hungary Catholic school.
• Can Charter Schools Boost Test Scores For Low-Income Kids? Our visit to Christel House Academy in Indianapolis.
• Are Ads For Schools A ‘New Reality’ In Indiana?
• Judge Says Indiana’s Voucher Program Is Constitutional, Opponents Vow To Appeal
• Why The Project School Won’t Be The Last Charter To Close. The story of an Indianapolis charter school’s fight to stay open. The story of its closure contains a statewide lesson.
• The Boring School Financing Bill That Could Change Everything — no, really. (Wish we could’ve touched on this in the special, but a lot has happened over the past year!)

Teachers & Takeovers

• What Three Indiana School Corporations Learned About Evaluating Teachers
• Why Special Education Advocates Are On Edge Over New Licensing Rules, in which Cindi Pastore debates the value of allowing more teachers into the special education profession.
• Why So Many Teachers Hate Their Jobs Right Now. Our write-up on the Met Life Survey of the American Teacher, which we referenced briefly in Progress Report.
• Is Indiana’s Education Overhaul Burning Out Teachers? More survey results, this time from Indy’s WTHR, showing frustration among teachers.
• ‘Don’t Walk Out Of Here With Your Head Held Down.’ Kevin Sandorf, who taught at a state takeover school before its new operator took over, offered this perspective on the process.

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