Wednesday, January 27, 2016

A-F GRADES RELEASED

The Indiana State Board of Education approved 2014-15 school accountability grades yesterday during its January regular business meeting. The grades approved by the Board reflect changes enacted by the Indiana General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Mike Pence to ensure that no school is penalized by lower ISTEP+ scores during the state’s transition to more rigorous college and career ready academic standards.

According to Senate Enrolled Act 200, no school could earn a lower accountability grade during the 2014-15 academic year than it did during the previous year. Under this law, school grades could improve but no school’s A-F accountability grade would drop. The General Assembly and Governor Mike Pence also signed into law House Enrolled Act 1003 which prevented individual teachers from being negatively impacted in their performance evaluation by lower ISTEP+ scores.

The 2014-15 A-F accountability grade show an increase in the number of “A” rated schools at 55.4 percent and a decrease of “F” rated schools at 2.6 percent from the previous year.

The Board also approved a resolution that would continue the turnaround efforts currently in place at traditional public and public charter schools that might be eligible for additional state intervention based on their 2014-15 accountability grade.