More schools slip into bottom of state rankings

INDIANAPOLIS – More Indiana schools have slipped into academic watch and probation status, and the state is sending assistance teams to help 31 schools stuck for years in the lowest rung of the state’s five-tier ranking system.

State Superintendent Tony Bennett said Wednesday that teams of three to five people will recommend changes in schools that are entering their fourth year of academic probation. Those schools have been in that category since state rankings began in the 2005-2006 school year.

Bennett said he hopes the teams are in place before this fall. Those teams could include community representatives, teachers, superintendents, local officials or special consultants.

“It’s a resource,” he said. “We are going to put a sense of purpose and a sense of urgency into the delivery of this resource and service so that it’s very clear to schools, school corporations and school communities the importance of moving the needle.”

The 31 schools, which are largely clustered in urban areas, will also have to give parents the choice of transferring their children to another school in the district next year. Chuck Little, executive director of the Indiana Urban Schools Association, said the state assistance teams could help.

“They’re long overdue,” Little said. “If they really can bring some assistance, I know it will be welcome and put to good use.”

The teams can help schools revise their improvement plan and recommend changes such as allocating resources to boost performance. Bennett, a former superintendent, said the teams will help local school officials stay focused on the big picture.

“Sometimes we lose sight of what it takes to be globally competitive because we are focused on the day-to-day things that occur in schools,” Bennett said. “We can’t lose sight of our need to compete.”

School superintendents are focused on accountability, Little said, but improving performance can be more complicated when some students start school unprepared
and don’t have full-day kindergarten or other programs that get them ready to learn.

“It’s very difficult learning that needs to take place with youngsters who do not have the frame of reference,” Little said.

Bennett also said Wednesday he wants to reward schools that are improving on measures such as graduation rates. He said he would announce a program as early as next week that would give schools “real incentives” to improve using a “significant” amount of money the Department of Education has saved in its budget.

More details on that program will be announced soon, Bennett said.

“We’re very excited about that,” he said.

New 2008 state data released Wednesday show that about 70 percent of public high schools, 64 percent of public middle schools and 35 percent of public elementary schools fell into the state’s lowest two categories – academic watch and probation.

About a quarter of Indiana’s public schools fell into a lower category in 2008 than 2007. And about 19 percent moved into higher categories, while the rest stayed in the same tier.

The state rankings are separate from federal accountability measures required under the No Child Left Behind law. The federal progress goals only account for performance on statewide exams, while the state rankings give credit to schools for both performance and improvement over time. Consequences of the federal law only apply to schools receiving certain federal funding, while the state consequences apply to all public schools except charter schools.

Only schools in the lowest category of academic probation face consequences such as possible restructuring under the state law. Indiana had 138 public schools on probation in 2008, up from 127 a year before.