The accountability measures that have been introduced for individual Indiana schools should be extended to entire school districts, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said Tuesday night in his State of Education speech.
Indiana school principals will begin evaluating all teachers this year under a 2011 law that ties teacher performance to merit pay. But the new responsibilities are sparking worries that administrators will be stretched too thin.
Scores released Tuesday by the state education department show that of the 500,000 students taking the standardized tests, 71 percent passed both the language arts and math sections. That's up one percentage point from last year.
The test will replace the ISTEP exam currently taken by Indiana students in grades 3 through 11 and end-of-course assessments taken at the end of algebra 1 and English 10 classes.
State Superintendent Tony Bennett said the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, test in the 2014-2015 school year will be more difficult than the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus exam.
Key parts of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett’s education reforms will be put under a miscroscope this summer by a special commission of state legislators.
Indiana lawmakers signed off on minor school changes at the close of the 2012 session while reining in broader efforts sought by state schools Superintendent Tony Bennett.
Parents across Indiana weary of paying sometimes-hefty fees for their children to attend full-day kindergarten classes could soon catch a break.
Indiana will take advantage of a federal waiver on provisions of the No Child Left Behind act to create better education for students, State School Superintendent Tony Bennett said.
Indiana's public school districts wouldn't be able to end school bus service for their students under a proposal advancing in the General Assembly after protests from parents in a suburban Indianapolis district who now face annual bills of more than $400 a child for rides to and from school.
Indiana's public schools would be required to teach cursive writing and be largely prohibited from starting their school years until late August under bill approved by a legislative committee.
A proposal that would make thousands of current private school students eligible for Indiana's school voucher program has been endorsed by a state legislative committee, although cost concerns might block its chances of advancing this year.
String of controversial reforms draw campaign contributions, ire of opponents.
By gutting its central office, Indianapolis Public Schools could free up $188 million to provide universal preschool, to pay key teachers more than $100,000 a year and to transform itself into a network of autonomous “opportunity” 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.
Terre Haute Sen. Tim Skinner and Oldenburg Sen. Jean Leising said they plan to submit bills when lawmakers return to Indianapolis in 2012 that would require the writing style be taught.
A memo that sparked concern among Indiana's school districts by saying they would begin losing funding this month under the state's new private school voucher law was sent "prematurely" a state education official says.
Indiana's new school voucher law has prompted some parents to pull their children out of private schools and put them in public schools for a year so that they can become eligible for the state-funded program.
An Indianapolis parent is suing Franklin Township schools over its decision to stop running school buses. The district this summer sold its buses to an education cooperative that now charges for transportation.
