Indiana education officials: Poor attendance hurting academics
While chronic absenteeism in Indiana has improved this year after worsening during COVID, the rate remains 8 percentage points higher than before the pandemic.
Aleksandra Appleton, Chalkbeat Indiana
Articles
Indiana students’ reading scores have barely changed in three years, new IREAD results show
More than four out of five third graders—just under 82%—passed the Indiana reading exam, the IREAD, in 2023. That’s several percentage points below the passing rate from 2019, when 87.3% of all students passed the test.
Five things to watch as Indiana’s school year begins
Recovering from the pandemic’s effects on student performance remains a top priority for schools, as state testing scores indicate that learning has stagnated.
After slow start, some Indiana schools begin to hire adjunct teachers
Indiana lawmakers cleared the way last year for school districts to issue their own permits and hire adjunct teachers for hard-to-fill teaching positions.
Indiana families no longer face textbook fees. Here’s how it will work.
Beginning this school year, after a law passed in the 2023 legislative session, all Indiana schools will be required to stop charging families for curricular materials, including textbooks, iPads, and Chromebooks.
Indiana’s new requirements for teaching reading count on prepared teachers
By 2025, new Indiana teachers will be required to demonstrate their proficiency in the science of reading—a term for a wide body of research that emphasizes phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and phonemic awareness in reading instruction.
Indiana lawmakers to discuss bill similar to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law
The two-page bill is one of several proposals from legislators this session that address how schools must handle controversial social issues involving race and sex.
Indiana senators nix discussion on latest bill restricting classroom topics
The abrupt change in plans by the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development came after a Tuesday rally by groups opposed to such legislation.
Legislation would require Indiana districts to share property tax revenue with charters
Proponents characterize the strategy as funding students instead of systems, while opponents argue it leaves fewer resources for students in Indiana’s traditional public schools.
Bill would compel districts to close underused buildings, offer them to charters
A bill in the Indiana Senate would significantly expand a state law that requires school districts to make their empty buildings available to charter schools.
Indiana’s plan to ‘reinvent high school’ moves forward
The bill would allow students to meet graduation requirements through career experience and give students state-funded scholarship accounts to spend on workforce training outside their schools.
Indiana students may need to learn how to open bank accounts, take out loans in order to graduate
The vote puts Indiana on track to join several other states that have recently adopted financial literacy graduation requirements.
Bill would require schools to report student requests to change names, pronouns
Gender identity and transitioning are the focus of a number of bills filed by Indiana lawmakers in the 2023 session, including one that would require teachers and schools to disclose if students request to change their names or pronouns.
Indiana Republicans propose career scholarship accounts
A new bill in Indiana would establish accounts for students to pay for career training outside their schools, as part of House Republicans’ campaign to “reinvent” high school and align it more closely to the workforce.
State education groups seek school-funding increase, expanded preschool access
Education advocates say they see expanding access to both early learning and higher education as critical to the state’s economic health.
Indiana DOE seeks to double funding for English learners
Indiana’s English learner population has increased by 52% over the last five years.
Some Indiana high school students have new paths to graduation
The State Board of Education on Wednesday approved three locally created graduation tracks at two school districts and one adult learning center.
New program to pay for teachers to earn license to teach English language learners
The Indiana Teacher of English Language Learners, or I-TELL, program will pay for tuition and fees for current educators to earn the additional licensure they need to become teachers of record for students who are learning English.
Three education issues to watch in 2023 legislative session
GOP leaders essentially stayed mum about whether they’ll take another crack at last year’s unsuccessful curriculum bill that sought to restrict what teachers could say about race and racism.
State plans sweeping reduction of standards for K-12 students
The Indiana Department of Education is supposed to seek input from businesses, industries, and postsecondary institutions about what characteristics students need to succeed in order to help inform the new standards.