Private Indiana schools that accepted students from low- to middle-income families using state-funded vouchers last year experienced a small drop in their passing rates on the state's ISTEP test this year, a newspaper's analysis of test scores shows.
Indiana students made improvements across the board on the state's standardized test this year amid a push for more school accountability and the first state takeovers of failing schools.
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.
An Indianapolis school district said Friday it suspended five teachers and another resigned amid an investigation into cheating on a state standardized biology exam at one of Indiana's largest high schools.
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.
A northwestern Indiana school district has told nearly 100 teachers that they might be laid off as yet another of the state's large districts faces big staffing cuts.
An architect is proposing a study for finding a new use for Anderson's closed Wigwam gymnasium, possibly turning it into a convention center.
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.
Gary Community Schools Superintendent Myrtle Campbell said the district needs to cut $11 million from its budget, and personnel is the biggest part of its spending.
Leaders of an Indianapolis school district said they're preparing a report for state officials into the possible disclosure of student assessment test questions by teachers at one of the state's largest high schools.
Indiana's largest school district is planning to lay off 163 workers, including 94 teachers, largely because of the state takeover of four schools starting this fall.
The proposed cuts represent about 5 percent of Indianapolis Public Schools’ current budget. IPS Superintendent Eugene White will detail his spending-reduction plan on May 24 at the IPS’ central office building.
Zionsville’s school district is asking taxpayers to address a $2.5 million budget shortfall. Meanwhile, in Johnson County, voters will consider whether to help finance a $30 million project that includes the construction of a 70,000-square-foot library.
The planned layoff of about 80 teachers by Indianapolis Public Schools will be among the first under a new state law that allows teacher performance to be considered in deciding who will be let go.
Superintendent Scott Robison informally recommended in March that the school system take a pass on the new funding because it still does not fully cover the costs required to expand its kindergarten program from half days to full days.
The exact nature of the probe is not clear. The appointment comes after the school district placed Jeff McGown, a Martinsville second-grade teacher and High School girls tennis coach, on administrative leave last week.
Indianapolis Public Schools chief Eugene White projected a defiant tilt toward the status quo.
In an hour-long defense of Indianapolis Public Schools, Superintendent Eugene White outlined plans to streamline administrative staff, create more choices for parents, direct more resources to the district’s most challenged schools and give more autonomy to its highest performing schools.
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.
For all the arguments in favor of school vouchers, there are opponents who say vouchers erode public schools by taking away money, violate the separation of church and state by giving public dollars to religious-based private schools, and aren't a proven way to improve test scores.
