INDIANAPOLIS – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett recognized 11 area schools for significant gains under the state’s A to F school accountability system and six area schools for continued success under the accountability system.
Four of those schools are from the Kosciusko County area.
Continued success is defined by a school receiving the equivalent of an A grade since 2005.
“These fair and comprehensive measures of school performance demonstrate that school leaders and teachers are focusing on the skills our students need to succeed in their academic and professional careers,” Bennett said. “The results of our new approach to grading schools are already making a measurable difference in student performance, and Indiana’s educators should be celebrated for their hard work and success.”
Northeast Indiana schools recognized for improvement included:
– Tippecanoe Valley High School, Tippecanoe Valley School Corp., moved from a “D” to an “A.”
– Lakeview Middle School, Warsaw Community Schools, moved from a “D” to an “A.”
– Edgewood Middle School, Warsaw Community Schools, moved from a “D” to an “A.”
– Jefferson Elementary School, Warsaw Community Schools, moved from a “D” to an “A.”
Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, the State Board of Education changed labels for school categories based on student performance from the terms Exemplary Progress, Commendable Progress, Academic Progress, Academic Watch and Academic Probation to easy-to-understand letter grades (A, B, C, D and F). The A through F labels have improved transparency by allowing parents and community members to better recognize how Indiana schools are performing.
Following the move to A through F letter grades, the State Board of Education also adopted a new methodology for determining grades for schools and school corporations. This new methodology holds schools and school corporations to higher standards and provides a more accurate picture of their performance by incorporating student academic growth and graduation rates as well as college and career readiness indicators.
Letter grades for high schools are calculated based on performance (Algebra 1 and English 10 End of Course Assessments), student improvement, graduation rate, and college and career readiness indicators (such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and industry certification exams or earning college credits). Letter grades for elementary and middle schools are based upon English/language arts and math ISTEP+ performance, participation and improvement as well as student growth.
A complete story of how every school in the area did ran in Wednesday’s Times-Union on page 1A.
