Indiana will soon release its plan for complying with the new Every Student Succeeds Act, which means a new way we give schools an A-F grade. (photo credit: Claire McInerny/ Indiana Public Broadcasting)
For the last few years, Indiana has used an A-F system to hold our schools accountable. The way a school received a grade is mainly based on ISTEP+ scores, which was met with a lot of criticism. But now that Congress has passed the new version of the Every Student Succeeds Act (the re-write to No Child Left Behind), Indiana’s A-F system could see a huge overhaul.
The new law gives states more input on how they test their students and more importantly, how low-performing schools are held accountable to get on track to improve.
Now that the law was passed with bi-partisan support at the federal level, all 50 states are re-writing their accountability systems.
Indiana’s Department of Education has already been working on its plan, but before its made public, here’s a primer on what new provisions they are working with.
The main difference between the old accountability system and what states can do now, is that test scores won’t be the main factor in calculating a grade.
“You have to use student results in a more significant way than the other metrics,” says Chris Minnich, a member of the Council of Chief State School Officers. “But I don’t know any states that were going to go away from student results. I think this gives us an opportunity to balance.”
And that balance means more factors will create a school for a grade. Here is what the law lays out for elementary and middle schools:
Academic achievement (how a child performs on a test)
Academic growth (how a child improves year to year on a test)
Language proficiency for English Language Learners
Indicator of the state’s choice (more on this below)
Here is what will be used to calculate a score for a high school:
Academic achievement (how a student performs on a test)
Graduation rate
Language proficiency for English Language Learners
Indicator of the state’s choice (more on this below)
Students with high-functioning autism, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often struggle to understand body language or pick up on social cues. Improv theatre can help. (Björn Hermans/Flickr)” credit=”
It’s your typical scene. A buzzing school cafeteria. Children laughing and chatting. Friends hanging out. For some students, a good time.
For others, though, completely terrifying.
Socializing can be, well, hard. And for students with high-functioning autism, anxiety or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, it can be particularly difficult.
So, a group of doctoral students at Indiana State University hope to help by teaching a simple technique: improv theatre skills.
“I thought this would be a unique way, and a fun way, to get children engaged who might not otherwise engage socially,” says Rachel Magin, a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Indiana State University. She says, often, these are children who struggle to understand body language or pick up on social cues.
When children participate in improv games, they think about interacting with others in an atypical way. It’s structured, but fun. There’s a framework, but its flexible.
A Class For Young Students
Magin and colleagues will lead seven free, weekly hour-long classes for children ages 6-9. Each class will have a particular theme, including “introducing yourself,” “making eye contact,” “understanding emotions,” “assertiveness” and “physical boundaries.”
Children will participate in theatre activities, like games where they tell each other scary or exciting stories… in gibberish.
“It helps them see how other parts of body language and tone of voice and things like that impact your interaction with others, compared to just language,” Magin says. “It gets them out of their head, it gets them involved with an activity that’s a little different and unique that they’re not familiar with.”
Magin says these classes were inspired by a 2013 study she conducted. In her study, children ages 7-14 participated in role playing activities and improv games that required nonverbal communication.
“We found that the parents reported significant improvements in social skills and decreases in their children’s level of anxiety,” Magin says.
Much More Than Comedy
Improvisation is largely associated with quick wit and humor due to popular TV shows like “Who’s Line Is It Anyways?” but it can deliver much more than comedy, according to Ron Berk, professor emeritus at John Hopkins University.
“It deals with certain skills that typically are not taught or you can’t teach easily by other means, that’s what’s so unique about improv,” Berk says. “Those [skills] are building trust, thinking quickly on your feet, working together in a team.”
Berk says it’s no surprise that improv is so prolific — from entertainment, to corporate team building exercises, to activities like Magin’s. Teamwork is an integral characteristic — and students get experience working together, whether they realize it or not.
“And if students have problems consciously relating to others, here, you’re concentrating on whatever instructions you’ve been given, in terms of the technique,” Berk says. “So you’re not really dealing with phobias you might have in relating to others.”
For Children Who Struggle Socially, A Support System
The first rule of improv is “yes, and…,” meaning everyone’s input is valid. It’s a method that Bill Skaggs, IndyProv Managing Creative Director, says both furthers an improv scene and brings people together.
“Saying ‘no’ puts up a wall, so [yes, and…] continues the scene to go further. If you’re trusting of your scene partner, you can trust anything that they’re saying,” Skaggs says. “The biggest thing someone takes away is support.”
But the concept of “yes, and…” can also be a challenge for children who struggle socially, especially with children with high-functioning autism.
“They can get stuck in their ways, so it can be hard for them to go with the other person and say ‘yes, and…,’ instead of being like, ‘No, I disagree with that, I want it to be this way,'” Magin, the graduate student, says. “It can be challenging and difficult for them, but eventually I think it helps them grow in that area.”
She says her class will also teach parents ways to work on skills at home with their children.
More information is available through the Indiana State University Psychology Clinic, 812-237-3317.
The Department of Education will release 2016 ISTEP data in the coming weeks, according to district officials. (David Hartman /Flickr)
The Department of Education will release 2016 ISTEP data in the coming weeks before calculating A-F grades for schools, according to district officials.
Schools and parents received individual student ISTEP scores back in August, but they were embargoed. Now, the Department of Education is putting together the scores to show data at the school, district and state level.
State superintendent Glenda Ritz says statewide data will be made public in the next month.
Until recently, ISTEP grades would be released in the summer. Ritz says new changes to the test and who scores it is the reason for the current delay.
“So all the processes are still the same, but they get expanded because of quality checks that are put in place because of new test, and new vendors,” Ritz says.
Preliminary A-F grades for schools will be released at the end of October.
State Board of Education members state superintendent Glenda Ritz and Dr. David Freitas listen to presentations at a January 2015 board meeting. (Photo Credit: Rachel Morello/StateImpact Indiana)
This year’s school rankings will not consider achievement gaps for economically disadvantaged students, students of color, students with disabilities or students with limited English.
The Indiana State Board of Education voted Wednesday to suspend part of Indiana law that requires schools to show progress in closing these gaps to receive an “A” ranking in the state’s A-F system. It’s the only reference to achievement gaps in the law, which governs how the state assesses schools and districts.
This year, Indiana doesn’t need to provide progress in closing achievement gaps — differences in student learning between certain groups and their peers — to the federal government. So, the state won’t ask local schools to provide any of this information for 2015-16 school rankings. Continue Reading →
Purdue University President Mitch Daniels discusses the Purdue Polytechnic High School at its future home in the PR Mallory Building, 3029 E. Washington St., on the east side of Indianapolis as Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lewis Ferebee listens on Monday, Oct. 3, 2016. The charter school will be part of the IPS district under a contract that makes IPS accountable for student’s state funding and their academic outcomes. (Eric Weddle/WFYI)
Purdue University is launching a STEM-focused charter high school in Indianapolis with the goal of getting more inner-city graduates ready for college or head directly into a career, said President Mitch Daniels.
The 9-12 school is scheduled to open next year on the city’s Eastside and will offer project-based learning in the STEM-fields: science, technology, engineering and math. Graduates who meet Purdue’s admission requirements will be a top choice for enrollment.
Applications are now being accepted. The freshman class will be 150 students for 2017-18 with a new class added each year. Enrollment eventually will reach 600.
Daniels said too few Indianapolis graduates college bound. This year only 26 Indianapolis Public Schools students were admitted to Purdue — and of those only 12 made it to campus.
“We can not be the university we aspire to be or determine to be if we don’t do better than that in the single largest concentration of low-income and first generation students in our state,” Daniels said Monday during an event to unviel the schools future home.
IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee said the district shoulders some responsibility for not preparing more students to be admitted to the Big 10 school. Continue Reading →
District officials say wide boundary zones for Indianapolis’ popular and high performing magnet schools have barred minority students from attending. They hope changes can boost enrollment of minority students who often get stuck on waitlists. (Indiana Public Schools)
The boundary zones for some of Indianapolis’ most popular and high
performing magnet schools will be narrowed starting next year in an
attempt by Indianapolis Public Schools leaders to offer poor and
minority students a better chance to be picked in an enrollment
lottery.
The district has been under fire by some in the community and a board
commissioner who have charged the current system gives an edge to
white, higher-income families because the current priority zones for
enrollment cover large areas of the neighborhoods where these families
live.
Critics also say that an insufficient number of in-demand magnet
programs for elementary age students has caused families who live
outside the priority zones to be stuck on enrollment waitlists.
IPS magnet schools use weighted lotteries for enrollment. That means
students who have a sibling in a school or live within a boundary zone
near a school are given a higher chance of being picked in the lottery
than a student from somewhere else in the city.
District officials believe, in part, the boundary zones has caused
disparities like at Center for Inquiry at School 84 where just 5
percent of students are black and 83 percent are white. Other magnet
schools have lower levels of race disparity, including different CFI
schools, when comparing a school’s enrollment to the district’s entire
student body where whites make up just 20 percent. Continue Reading →
A preschool student in Columbus works in her classroom. (Photo Credit: Rachel Morello/StateImpact Indiana)
At a legislative study committee Wednesday, a group of preschool advocates asked members to propose an increase in state funded, high quality pre-K opportunities for low-income families. The group of advocates includes members from large Indiana businesses, including Eli Lilly, PNC Bank and the United Way.
Indiana is one of eight states without a publicly funded pre-K program. It is currently piloting a program, On My Way Pre-K, which gives scholarships to a few hundred students in five counties.
More pre-K opportunities for low-income families have been funded by Indiana-based corporations, which have donated millions of dollars over the last few years.
As we reported Wednesday, legislators are not embracing the requests for an additional state investment. And some lawmakers say the price is high, and they aren’t confident the expansion is sustainable.
But those advocating for pre-K scholarships for low-income children say, if you get a four-year-old into a good preschool program, the state won’t have to spend as much money on other educational needs down the road.
“The elected officials have to sometimes step outside the normal boundaries of the normal government financial decision making and say what are were going to spend money on, make a decision on, what are we going to invest in,” says Michael O’Connor, Director of State Government Affairs for Eli Lilly.
To underline this point for legislators, the group commissioned an economic impact report that outlines the longterm savings of preschool.
A group of researchers from Indiana University compiled the report, and here are some of the findings:
For every dollar spent on pre-K, the state will receive up to four dollars in return.
If the state funded pre-K for low-income children, it would see an estimated 12 percent reduction in kids needing special education services.
If there was state funded pre-K for low-income children, the state would see an estimated 18 percent reduction in students who repeat grades and need remediation services.
The reduction in special education, remediation and grade repetition would save the state between $19 and $48 million dollars.
Research also shows that students who attend high quality pre-K are less likely to be involved in crime later in life. In Indiana, this could be a state savings of $63 to $162 million dollars.
A group of business and philanthropy leaders want the legislature to expand scholarships for low-income children to attend high quality pre-k. (photo credit: Rachel Morello/Indiana Public Broadcasting).
A pre-K advocacy group made up of Indiana businesses and philanthropic organizations asked a group of legislators on Wednesday to give more funding to pre-K scholarships for low-income families, and legislators pushed back.
The advocacy group, which includes representatives from United Way, Eli Lilly and PNC Bank, among others, testified before the interim study committee on fiscal policy. This is the committee that will have influence over what is included in the state budget when the General Assembly convenes in January.
Those who testified mentioned how Indiana businesses and philanthropic groups have invested millions of dollars into pre-K scholarships in Marion County, and want the legislature to step up and help fund this effort long term.
“We need a great education system to develop the workforce we need,” Connie Bond Stuart, PNC Regional President, told the committee.
Currently, Indiana is piloting a pre-K program, On My Way Pre-K, which serves a few hundred low-income kids in five counties. The speakers advocating for expansion asked the study committee on fiscal policy to consider expanding these scholarships to more places in the state.
Bond Stuart says local businesses like PNC Bank and other companies want to continue funding this effort, but feel they need more support from the state to make it sustainable.
Tim Brown, R- Crawfordsville and chair of the House Ways and Means committee, said that if philanthropic groups feel so strongly about the cause, they shouldn’t expect tax payers to foot most of the bill.
“That just rubs me the wrong way,” Brown says.
One reason Bond Stuart and others who testified say this is a worthwhile use of taxpayer money, is that the state would receive a return on this investment.
An economic impact report the group commissioned shows if Indiana helped fund more four-year-olds to attend high quality pre-K, they’d save many in other areas. For example, the report says special education needs would drop 12 percent and remediation and grade repetition would drop 18 percent. This would allow for that money to be reallocated to scholarships.
But Brown and other Republicans on the committee pushed the various speakers on the sustainability of such a program.
“It’s pretty easy to say to us ‘you need to do this,'” says Doug Eckerty, R-Yorktown. “The hard part is to sustain. That’s a message we’re going to have to deliver this year.”
Michael O’Connor of Eli Lilly says his group didn’t put a specific price tag on the program because they want it to slowly grow and expand throughout the state. And legislators pushing back on his proposal is because they are used to viewing financial requests as single line items, rather than long term goals.
“The elected officials have to sometimes step outside the normal boundaries of the normal government financial decision making and say what are were going to spend money on make a decision on what are we going to invest in,” O’Connor says.
Both gubernatorial candidates John Gregg and Eric Holcomb are advocating for expanded pre-K, and the General Assembly will have the chance to address it when the session begins in January.
Democrat John Gregg, left, responds to a question during a debate for Indiana Governor, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016, in Indianapolis. Libertarian Rex Bell and Republican Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb also participated in the debate. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, Pool)
The Monday’s town hall-style gubernatorial debate focused on education, and took place at Indianapolis’ Lawrence North High School, in front of an audience of students, teachers and administrators.
It featured questions from Indianapolis high school students and moderator Laura Merrifield Albright, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis.
Republican candidate Eric Holcomb, Democratic candidate John Gregg and Libertarian candidate Rex Bell faced questions on standardized testing, Indiana’s teacher shortage, youth job availability and higher education. They laid out similar policy positions on almost all issues.
On almost all issues, Holcomb and Gregg walked similar lines: both called the ISTEP+ standardized test a broken test (the test is currently being replaced), both refrained from committing to in-state tuition at public universities for students living in the country illegally, and both were quick to say they honor the performing arts.
Bell stood out from the group by continually advocating for local control over issues — even suggesting that school districts would be better off if each had their own test. Parents, he says, not the state, should hold schools accountable for doing a good job.
The most substantive differences between candidates emerged when they spoke about education in the context of the larger economy.
Holcomb says education is improving in Indiana. He credits the economic recovery ushered in under the former Gov. Mitch Daniel’s administration, of which he was a part.
“We ushered in Indiana’s comeback,” Holcomb says. “We turned this state around.”
But Gregg challenged Holcomb’s economic claims, pushing the Republican candidate on the cost of the recovery. He says the middle and working class are still struggling.
“The reality is that Hoosiers are working harder and harder, and taking home less and less,” Gregg says, comparing Indiana’s economy to a broken house.
“When I have a leaky roof, I fix it,” Gregg says.
The candidates also clashed briefly over Indiana’s teacher shortage. Gregg says the state bears the blame for the shortage.
“It’s teaching to the test, it’s the flat salaries, it’s the total lack of respect — I mean blaming teachers, basically, for society today,” Gregg says. “I do think once we give them a seat at the table and a modicum of respect, that will help with retention.”
Holcomb acknowledged the shortage, but called it a national problem, not a local one.
“It is not just Indiana-centric, this is a national issue,” Holcomb says. “There are 60,000 positions that look to be unfilled across the entire country. So it’s not just an Indiana issue.”
Bell blamed state testing for driving teachers from the profession. He says local control and local tests would remedy the shortage.
Gregg and Holcomb have laid out separate education plans that call for differing expansions of state-funded preschool and have different views of school choice, like vouchers and charter schools. No questions were asked specifically on those topics, but both candidates weighed in.
Holcomb wants to expand the state’s existing preschool pilot program. It offers state-funded preschool to families within certain income limits. He also says he will continue to advocate for a school funding formula where state money follows students and many families are allowed to choose between public, charter and private schools.
Gregg supports state-funded preschool options for all families in the state, regardless of income. He says the state has funds that could be used to roll that out over the course of three years.
The Indiana GOP’s gubernatorial ticket — Eric Holcomb and running mate State Auditor Suzanne Crouch at an Indianapolis news conference on Aug. 1, 2016. – Brandon J. Smith / Indiana Public Broadcasting” credit=”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Holcomb unveiled his education plan this morning during an annual meeting of Indiana school boards and local superintendents.
Hundreds of educators listened quietly to the lieutenant governor just minutes after they’d given a standing ovation to his Democratic challenger John Gregg who pledged to “end the war” on public eduction.
Gregg has made education and his relationship with Superintendent Glenda Ritz a centerpiece of his campaign.
But so far, education has been a low-profile issue for Republicans ahead of the November election. Just last week the GOP candidate for state schools chief released a detailed plan.
Holcomb proposed boosting funda for special education and English language learners during a short speech at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Deciding how to pay for any new programs would be hashed out in the upcoming legislative session when the next two-year budget is set, he said later.
Holcomb also pledged to find solutions to some of the issues that plunged the state’s education oversight into political fights and caused unease and anger from classroom teachers.
“Anyone can come up with a plan, but the difference is how you execute it,” he said during the Indiana School Board Association/Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents 67th annual conference. “So please know this plan is much more than words on a paper but a to do list.”
He described his approach as layered — from building on Pre-k to collaborations with state colleges and businesses to boost high school STEM learning and retrain out of work adults for new jobs.
Holcomb become lieutenant governor in March after Sue Ellspermann stepped down to be the president of Ivy Tech Community College. He was a top aide to former Gov. Mitch Daniels.
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