A teacher and students work at Indianapolis Public Schools’ Meredith Nicholson School 96. (Photo courtesy of IPS)
The State Board of Education approved school A-F grades for the 2016-2017 school year Wednesday. It reports an increase in the number of schools receiving As and fewer receiving Bs.
Yet the overall percent of schools that received As and Bs is the nearly the same as last year.
State Superintendent Jeniffer McCormick warned that “celebrating” the continued high number of top tier schools would be premature. Next year Indiana schools will face a change in accountability due to new federal education policy.
Kimbal Musk, brother of Elon the CEO of Tesla, is entrepreneur and restaurateur. (WFYI News)
Farm-to-table restaurateur Kimbal Musk, brother of Tesla founder Elon Musk, is a quarter of the way to his goal of establishing 100 “learning gardens” at Indianapolis schools to fight obesity and related health threats.
“Today, kids see food either as coming from a McDonald’s box or out of plastic wrap,” Musk says. “They have no idea that it actually comes out of the ground. And by exposing kids to the growing of a carrot, and all they see is a little green sprout – and when they pull a carrot out – it’s like a magic trick,” he smiles.
Jim McGoff, environmental programs director for the Indiana Finance Authority, testifies before the interim environmental affairs legislative committee. (Nick Janzen/IPB News)
Fewer than half of Indiana’s public school districts are participating in a free lead testing program, according to Jim McGoff, environmental programs director at the Indiana Finance Authority.
The IFA created the voluntary program after lead contamination in places such as Flint, Michigan, and East Chicago, Indiana, rose to national prominence.
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and husband Dick eat at the Eastern Hancock High School cafeteria for the annual FFA hog roast fundraiser on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 during the last stop on the “Rethink School” tour. (Eric Weddle/WFYI News)
Indiana will receive $59.9 million in federal funds to expand charter schools over the next five years.
Federal Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced the award Thursday as part of a total package of approximately $514.9 million in recommended grants for eight other states, charter management organizations, non-profit organizations and state agencies.
The front door of the Hoosier Academy administrative offices and school on Far Eastside of Indianapolis at 2855 North Franklin Road. The building houses the K-12 Hoosier Academy blended learning school, Hoosier Virtual Academy, and the new Insight School of Indiana middle school. (Eric Weddle/WFYI News)
The board of the chronically failing Hoosier Academies Virtual School voted Tuesday not to seek renewal of their charter, a decision that will cause the school of 2,000 students to close in June.
John Marske, Hoosier Academies board president, told WFYI News in an email Wednesday that the school had until Oct. 1 to submit a renewal application.
“Although the Board has seen evidence of significant improvement at Hoosier Virtual,” he wrote in an email, “We did not feel the academic data, available as of October 1, 2017, was sufficient to pass the rigors of a charter application process.”
A “graphic recording” of the Graduation Pathways Committee’s discussion on Sept. 26, 2017, as illustrated by Mike Fleisch. (Eric Weddle/WFYI News)
Starting next year, students will have a new way to qualify for high school graduation.
What it will be, or how many options they can choose from, is still unknown.
A committee of lawmakers, education leaders, lobbyists and others are trying to hash out new, so-called “pathways” for students to earn a diploma.
The goal is to boost vocational and academic skills in the face of the state’s skills gap in workers, and students still struggling in basic college classes.
The state-funded preschool pilot program that began with five counties was expanded during the 2017 legislative session for 15 more counties. Now, parents in 10 of those counties can apply for half-year preschool.
But all low-income families applying will also have to comply with a new program requirement.
A state grant would pay for half or full day preschool for a 4-year-old child beginning next January.
The Soup Kitchen’s executive director is also a member of the Burris class. Loretta Parsons says she is grateful her class is raising money for the community they were raised in.
“To pick this that I am involved in is so dear to me. It just was really humbling and I’m just so appreciative of the effort they are making.”
Thirteen classmates also volunteered at the soup kitchen while they were in Muncie for the weekend, before dining at the reunion.
A Burris Laboratory School class celebrating their 50th reunion this weekend in Muncie wanted to give back to the city that educated them. As IPR’s Alexis Alicea reports, they chose a cause that is close to home for a fellow classmate.
U.S. Congressman Jim Banks, a Republican Representative for Indiana’s 3rd District, is asking U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to delay changes to the high school diploma in Indiana. (C-SPAN)
Under a new federal education law thousands of Indiana diplomas known as general diplomas would no longer count for a school’s graduation rate.
As a result, Indiana could see its statewide graduation rate drop from 89 percent to 76 percent, based on 2016 data.
Now Indiana’s Congressional delegation wants the federal education department to give the state more time to prepare before that change takes effect.
Principal positions are open at Arsenal Tech, Crispus Attucks, Shortridge and Washington high schools. Current school leaders have already interviewed for those jobs. They will compete with outside candidates. IPS talent officer Mindy Schlegel says 2018-19 principals will be announced in a few weeks.
Incoming principals will then determine staffing needs for their schools. Teachers will take a survey to signal their interest in available jobs at individual schools.
“We want them to focus on what is the best fit,” Schlegel says.
More than 300 teachers at seven Indianapolis high schools are required to reapply for jobs next year, after the Indianapolis Public Schools Board approved a plan Monday to close three high schools, district officials said Wednesday. The move came as part of a curriculum overhaul and after years of declining enrollment.
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