The Indianapolis-based education reform group The Mind Trust will announce June 25 that it is awarding $1 million apiece to Indianapolis-based Christel House Academy and Boston-based Phalen Leadership Academies to launch new charter schools in Indianapolis.
Six months after the Mind Trust released its plan to reform Indianapolis Public Schools, researchers at Indiana University now say the plan rests on experiments in other cities that led to greater inequity among students and did not produce dramatic academic gains.
Three “blended learning” educational organizations have been approved to open 19 charter schools here that combine online technology and face-to-face instruction. The strategy allows schools to save money by employing fewer teachers, yet also can produce impressive student results.
After a near-death experience, the KIPP Indianapolis College Preparatory School is back on its feet and looking to spawn a mini-district of charter schools. KIPP-Indy leaders have drawn up plans to launch four additional schools from 2014 to 2020.
An Arizona charter school operator serving middle and high school students has filed plans to build a two-story school at Meridian and 22nd streets.
Fountain Square Academy, a charter middle and high school with about 270 students, will remain open after Ball State University decided to grant it a charter to continue operating after this school year.
The winners’ mission will be to launch successful charter schools and replicate those schools at three or four additional locations around Indianapolis.
Charter schools for adults continue to pick up steam, as Christel House International prepares to launch the fourth such school in Indianapolis.
The Mind Trust plan for transforming Indianapolis Public Schools calls for turning the district into a network of charter-like schools and giving them 15 percent to 25 percent more dollars to spend than Indianapolis charter schools currently enjoy.
A measure being pushed in the Indiana House of Representatives would let parents vote to turn public schools over to charter school operators.
String of controversial reforms draw campaign contributions, ire of opponents.
The $1 million grant from the Arkansas-based Walton Family Foundation will fund a team that will open its first charter school in the 2013-2014 school year as part of what the group hopes will become a network of high-performing charter schools.
Charter Schools USA, the Florida-based company tapped by the state government to turn around Howe and Manual high schools in Indianapolis, also wants to launch two charter elementary schools to help feed students into those schools.
Fall Creek and Fountain Square academies could be forced to close in May after Ball State University declined their applications this week.
Stonegate Early College High School is folding midyear due to financial troubles. The city has hired a trustee to help families find new schools.
Like Goodwill’s program, it would cater to dropouts.
The Indianapolis Public Schools superintendent wants the state to investigate charter schools that he claims break federal and state laws by turning away homeless and disabled students, a charge the president of the Indiana Public Charter Schools Association denies.
Grant for $500,000 will go toward use of technology to personalize learning.
The Mind Trust is laying plans to hand out up to five $1 million grants next June to teams of educational entrepreneurs who would use the money to develop and launch innovative charter schools in Indianapolis.
The local not-for-profit is launching a program this month that will dole out million-dollar grants to teams of education entrepreneurs to help them start local chains of charters.
