Failing online charter school’s fate on the line
The Indiana State Board of Education on Wednesday must once again decide what to do about one of the state’s lowest-scoring online charter schools.
K-12
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Indiana could see a push for school choice savings accounts
Critics worry the accounts would be too unregulated and could divert even more money from public schools.
UPDATE: School chief Ritz’s office backed app deal without bidding
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz's office approved a lucrative technology contract that state government officials said should have been subject to competitive bid, awarding it to a company that later gave one of her key aides a senior job.
McCormick rejects Ritz’s favored ISTEP changes, backs SAT as high school exam
Jennifer McCormick, a school superintendent from Yorktown running for Indiana superintendent of public instruction, has revealed details of how she’d like to see Indiana’s testing system change.
IPS board OKs John Marshall conversion as part of realignment plan
The changes are part of a district-wide plan to separate middle school students from combined middle-high schools.
Candidates promise to end bickering in education—no matter who wins
The Republicans and Democrats running for governor and state superintendent say they’ll focus their energy on kids, although they have different plans to do so.
Two new charter high schools get a boost from Mind Trust
Indianapolis Public Schools might be losing a few high schools in the coming years, but with The Mind Trust’s support, two charter high schools could open as soon as next fall.
Ritz seeks tax break for textbooks in budget proposal
Public school parents across Indiana could get a $1,000 annual tax break to cover the cost of textbooks if the Indiana Department of Education’s latest budget proposal, released Tuesday, were adopted.
IPS reveals sweeping plans to overhaul schools across city
Indianapolis Public Schools leaders revealed radical plans Tuesday to overhaul schools across the district, including converting John Marshall High School into a dedicated middle school.
Indiana education committee looks at sexual misconduct
A group of Indiana lawmakers is looking at sexual misconduct in schools to see if legislation is needed in 2017 to help curb abuse.
Musk’s brother plans to plant 100 gardens at Indy schools
A group run by Kimbal Musk—billionaire Elon Musk's brother—is expanding its footprint to Indianapolis in a big way, aiming to cultivate at least 100 patches of land for schoolchildren to study.
Advocates launch lobbying effort to expand state preschool
Advocates want to see Indiana children from families earning up to at least 200 percent of the federal poverty line have access to high-quality pre-kindergarten programs.
Indiana flunked hardly any teachers last school year, new DOE report shows
Of the 68,386 educators evaluated by the state in 2015, just 260—0.38 percent—got the lowest rating, a status that could put educators in the state at risk for being fired.
FOCUS: More kids take vocational classes but challenges remain
In the school year that ended in May, nearly 175,000 students were enrolled in more than 235,000 career and technical classes. That’s an 11 percent increase since the 2012-2013 school year, when Gov. Mike Pence challenged schools to serve students going to work as well as students going to college.
Board yanks charter for ITT-sponsored school
The Early Career Academy was designed so that students also could earn associate degrees from ITT Tech at no cost, but the college has faced scrutiny for providing credits that are not accepted by major universities in the state.
Panel considers end to linking test results, teacher pay
Some members of a state panel charged with recommending a replacement for Indiana's unpopular ISTEP student exam want to drop the use of test results in teacher pay evaluations.
State seeks $4M from testing company for ISTEP glitches, delays
The holdup in scoring the 2015 ISTEP created a number of major problems for the state and required legislative action, according to education officials.
Four Indianapolis high schools face uncertain futures
Indianapolis Public Schools officials are holding meetings this week to discuss possible major changes for John Marshall, Broad Ripple, George Washington and Northwest high schools.
IPS considers letting high school students sleep in
With research increasingly pointing to health and academic benefits for teens who sleep later in the day, some Indianapolis Public Schools board members are calling on the district to explore the possibility of starting high school later in the morning.
Despite deep job cuts, Pearson pledges growth in Indianapolis
The Indianapolis workforce for publisher Pearson has decreased from 850 to 180 full-time workers over the last 18 years, but a company executive told IBJ this week the firm is much more likely to grow here than shrink further.