As the first state to drop the national Common Core learning standards, Indiana is rushing to approve new state-crafted benchmarks in time for teachers to use them this fall, and education leaders from across the nation are closely watching.
Members of the Indiana State Board of Education said a new performance evaluation system failed parents, students and teachers when results released earlier this week found only 2 percent of educators are in need improvement.
Education policy experts say results of the first Indiana teacher evaluations that rank only 2 percent as needing improvement show some schools aren't taking the rating system seriously.
Performance results released Monday by the Department of Education revealed that only one of every 250 educators was ranked in the lowest category. And fewer than three in 100 were rated as needing improvement.
The legislation would provide loan reimbursements of up to $9,000 for some of those teaching science, technology, engineering or math.
Certain students who go on to teach science, math or special education in Indiana could get up to $9,000 to pay off loans if a legislative proposal becomes law.
Personnel costs make up about 90 percent of Indianapolis Public Schools’ general fund budget of $263.7 million, which prompted an Indy Chamber committee that recently analyzed the system’s finances to call for cuts in that area.
House Bill 1349 would establish a Classroom Expense Fund, from which money would be advanced to educators across the state.
The grants went to 10 organizations working to help support teacher recruitment and training in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.
A bipartisan group in the Indiana House is working to give some public elementary or high school teachers $9,000 towards their student loans after three consecutive years of teaching.
The former engineering students were charged with hacking into their professors’ accounts to boost their grades.
Indiana school districts which invested in a failed union health insurance plan could get back roughly half of the money they lost, if they approve the settlement.
Veterans could receive scholarships and college credits for their military experience if they pursue K-12 teaching in Indiana under a bipartisan proposal.
Former Gov. Mitch Daniels’ directive was part of a broader conservative push to move all of the training of school teachers out of the nation’s teaching colleges.
Indianapolis-based education reform group The Mind Trust will use the grant to help support teacher recruitment and training programs such as Teach for America.
Lawmakers voted last month to delay full implementation of the academic standards to allow time to study the potential costs of implementing or abandoning the standards and hold public meetings.
Teresa Meredith, an elementary teacher from Shelbyville, has been elected president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, replacing long-time leader Nate Schnellenberger.
What exactly does The Mind Trust do? What happened to its report on remaking IPS? Do you need teaching experience to reform education? David Harris has answers.
During Republican Tony Bennett’s tenure as superintendent of public instruction, Indiana became the poster child for school choice. But with Bennett’s surprising election loss to Democrat Glenda Ritz this month, the future of charter schools and private-school vouchers is murkier.
Politically boxed in at home, newly elected state schools chief Glenda Ritz is looking to Washington for some wiggle room to make changes to Indiana’s education rules.
