Budget proposal to push school funding past Pence’s pitch
The leader of the Indiana House says a state budget proposal set for release Monday will include a larger funding increase for public schools than Gov. Mike Pence sought in his spending plan.
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Ritz says ISTEP testing time can be cut by 3 hours
Indiana’s schools superintendent says a plan is in the works to cut about three hours from the maximum time that students will take the state’s standardized tests.
Long, Bosma say they’ll do what’s needed to shorten ISTEP
Indiana legislative leaders said they’re prepared to ram through legislation to make the state’s ISTEP test shorter, but they won’t consider Superintendent Glenda Ritz’s proposal to pause the school grading system for one year.
ISTEP stress test called ‘complete disaster’
“A number of schools” reported freezing issues Thursday during the test run, which was designed to ensure that the system worked smoothly when the online portion of the standardized test is given to 470,000 Indiana students in the coming weeks.
Ritz proposes 1-year freeze on school accountability grades
The State Board of Education will consider a proposal to suspend accountability grades and scrap portions of the ISTEP+ exam as it grapples with concerns about increased testing time for students.
Schools being told to be ready for longer ISTEP exam
Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Danielle Shockey said it wasn’t clear what changes could be made before the first possible day of the testing period arrives on Feb. 25.
UPDATE: Senate panel OKs bill to let education board elect leader
The legislation would overturn the current law in which the state's elected superintendent of public instruction – now Democrat Glenda Ritz – automatically chairs the board.
Pence orders shorter ISTEP+ exams after Ritz raises concerns
The governor announced Monday he would look for ways to curtail Indiana's revamped statewide assessment test from the up to 12½ hours it's been projected to take.
Ritz requests special meeting on length of ISTEP test
Department of Education data show the total time for administering the ISTEP+ test will more than double for all grades, topping out at 12 hours, 30 minutes for third-graders.
House, Senate continue push to revamp education governance
Majority Republicans in the House and Senate are pushing forward with bills to revamp the Indiana Board of Education and strip power from the state superintendent even as Democrats complain the GOP is only playing politics.
Lawmakers consider national test to replace ISTEP
Senate Bill 566, authored by Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, and Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, would halt an effort to create a new ISTEP, instead directing the state to use a national test beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
Bill to revamp State Board of Education advances
Tensions continued to flare Monday as the Senate Rules Committee debated and then passed legislation to alter the composition of the Indiana State Board of Education and demote the superintendent as its chair.
Republicans marching toward curbs on Ritz’s authority
Glenda Ritz's supporters protest that Republicans are disenfranchising a state electorate that gave Ritz 57,000 more votes than GOP Gov. Mike Pence received in the same election.
Lilly Endowment boosts school helping kids with dyslexia
Fortune Academy, a Lawrence school serving children from first through 12th grades with such learning differences as dyslexia and ADD, has received a $500,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
Charter school draws heat over $100 referral reward
Carpe Diem Meridian charter school in Indianapolis offered $100 Marsh grocery gift cards to anyone who referred a student who enrolled — an incentive that some critics say went too far.
Bills weakening school chief’s power advance in House
The elected state superintendent of public instruction would lose authority over several areas of education policy under Republican-backed proposals approved Thursday by an Indiana House committee.
Panel backs shifting power to Indiana state education board
An Indiana House committee has advanced a Republican-led proposal for shifting authority over education policy away from the elected state superintendent of public instruction.
Nearly 80 schools, districts could face takeover under bill
House Bill 1638 would give significant new powers to the State Board of Education to intervene in schools earning a D or F grade for at least four straight years—even creating new schools within a school district.
Lawmakers consider shifting Ritz’s power to state board
A wide-ranging bill discussed Tuesday would give the Indiana State Board of Education authority over testing, standards, student data, state takeovers and teacher evaluation.
Lilly Endowment gives $3.4M more to The Mind Trust
The Lilly Endowment has now given more than $14 million to Indianapolis-based The Mind Trust to fund programs that recruit and train teachers for work in schools in the city’s high-need neighborhoods.