New school measurement standards adopted by state
By Chelsea Schneider Kirk cschneider@post-trib.com February 8, 2012 3:36PM
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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:36AM
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana State Board of Education on Wednesday adopted new standards to measure student performance that coincide with the A-F grading system.
The measurement is a growth model that takes into account student improvement over the course of a school year. At the high school level, graduation rates and pass rates on Advanced Placement exams will also factor into a school’s grade.
State education officials contend the new measurements are an improvement from the old rules that simply account for the percentage of students passing state standardized tests and whether that percentage improved year over year.
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said the new rules help the state become more transparent on how schools perform.
“It’s incorporating what we believe to be and what most states across the country believe to be the most cutting-edge types of student measurements and how we assess school performance,” Bennett said.
Bennett sought to dispel myths on the new measurements, maintaining the state adopting the growth model won’t lead to a pre-determined number of schools receiving A-F’s.
Lake Station Community Schools Superintendent Dan DeHaven said the district would make adjustments to meet the new requirements.
“We need to impact that growth as much as possible now,” DeHaven said. “It’s just like a lot of things coming out of the Department of Education. It’s coming fast and we need to make these adjustments kind of on the fly.”
Merrillville Community Schools Superintendent Tony Lux said there’s mixed feelings on the new measurements especially in grades 3-8. Lux said the new measurements will force some students to be marked as low growth regardless of how well they achieve.
“There’s too much of a penalty for what they are considering to be low growth,” Lux said, “and there’s a lot of criticism over this issue of how they are defining growth.”
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