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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMore than three-quarters of Indiana's school districts are receiving A or B grades under the state's rating system.
The State Board of Education voted Wednesday to approve the ratings that are little changed from a year earlier. That's because of a one-year reprieve from lower grades following discord over big drops in student scores on the ISTEP standardized exam.
The new ratings give A grades to 46 percent of the state's 289 school districts and B grades to 33 percent of districts. Nineteen percent of districts received C grades and 3 percent got D grades.
The Gary Community Schools in northwestern Indiana received the only F grade.
Legislators last month approved a change to state law under which districts could receive higher grades than last year, but not lower ratings.
According to Chalkbeat Indiana, almost every Marion County public school district would’ve seen its A-F grade drop in 2015 because of falling ISTEP scores before lawmakers stepped in to keep grades from going down.
Speedway was the only Marion County school district that would have earned an A-grade in 2015. With the “held harmless” grades from 2014, Franklin, Perry and Lawrence townships will now be rated A, rather than C. Indianapolis Public Schools will receive a D-grade for 2015, even though its ISTEP scores would have otherwise resulted in an F.
A spreadsheet of the final district grades can be found here on the Department of Education website.
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