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Nearly half of Indiana’s public schools rank at the bottom of the state’s accountability model, with northeast Indiana schools faring even worse than the state average, the Indiana Department of Education announced Wednesday.
Forty-seven percent of individual public schools were classified as either academic watch or academic probation under Public Law 221, the state’s accountability model that began measuring Hoosier schools’ performance four years ago. That’s an increase from last year, when 44 percent of individual schools statewide ranked in the bottom two tiers out of five categories.
Nearly 55 percent of northeast Indiana schools were classified under academic watch or probation, an increase from last year, when 41 percent of area schools were labeled in the bottom two tiers. Schools receive one of five rankings: exemplary, commendable, academic progress, watch or probation. Some schools have been on probation all four years, and face harsher consequences.
“I applaud the Indiana schools that are achieving exemplary progress and those making improvement. However, I continue to be alarmed that too many schools across our state aren’t performing at acceptable levels,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said. “We must recognize that the status quo is not acceptable, and that requires embracing meaningful reforms and options so that all Indiana students receive the quality education they deserve.”
Public Law 221 ranks schools in the five categories based on their performance and improvement on the state ISTEP+ exam, and how they stack up under No Child Left Behind, the federal accountability model. It measures individual schools at all levels and school districts as a whole.
The wave of school reports and acronyms can be confusing for parents, who only last month received information on how their children’s schools fared under No Child Left Behind, the federal government’s way to track school performance.
No Child Left Behind and Public Law 221 measure schools differently, and one school can be successful under one model but fail under the other.
Both are based on how students score on the state I-STEP+ exam, but other factors weigh on the final verdict.
Statewide, school districts fared worse than the individual schools, with two-thirds ranking in the bottom two categories. Last year, 51 percent of the state’s school districts were on academic watch or probation. Fort Wayne Community Schools and East Allen County Schools were among the districts in the watch category.
FWCS had more schools listed under watch and probation this year compared with 2007, and South Side High School and North Side High School are in their fourth year of probation.
“The results really weren’t surprising, given how the fall ISTEP+ scores turned out,” FWCS spokeswoman Krista Stockman said. “Because Public Law 221 is based on improvement year after year, when you don’t improve, you’re not going to be placed in those top categories.”
The low designation for North Side and South Side means parents must be allowed to send their child to another school in the district, which FWCS already permits, and the state will assign the district an expert team to help make changes to improve.
Three schools in EACS – Prince Chapman Academy, Paul Harding High School and Village Elementary School – are also in their fourth year of probation.
More schools in East Allen were in the lower categories this year over 2007. Assistant Superintendent Janet Mac- Lean could not be reached for comment but e-mailed a statement pointing out the district’s high number of non-English speaking students who are expected to perform as well as their English-speaking classmates on standardized tests.
FWCS officials have been thinking long term when implementing methods to improve. One of the goals when instituting full-day kindergarten across the district was to see improvement every year thereafter, Stockman said.
“Kids are coming into school already behind, and if they’re starting off school behind, we’re not going to see them being successful in high school,” Stockman said.
Schools can also model themselves after buildings like Washington and Irwin elementary schools, which were named exemplary under the law. Washington has a lunch buddy program, where volunteers partner with students, and the school partners with churches and businesses in other areas, Stockman said.
“Irwin is definitely a school that when you walk in, you can feel the success in that school,” Stockman said. “You can feel the strong relationships that the staff has built.”
Fifty-five percent of schools statewide remained in the same category as last year, which was the case in Wawasee Community Schools. Only one school in the district changed designations from last year.
“Schools are big organizations, yet they improve one teacher and student at a time. You may go up over here and down over here and end up looking the same from the outside,” Superintendent Tom Edington said. “We do expect improvement, not just to please some type of rankings that are federally and state mandated but to be able to look inside ourselves and know that we are doing everything with the students that we can.”
