Record number of traditional public schools earn an 'A'; Vastly outperform charter schools
11/05/2014

 

Despite a flawed system that relies heavily on high stakes standardized testing, ISTA is not surprised by how well Indiana’s traditional public schools have been graded for 2014. We’re pleased to see that nearly three-quarters of traditional public schools received a grade of either an ‘A’ or ‘B’. It acknowledges the hard work of our students and teachers.

 

The students attending the 10 percent of the traditional public schools that have received a grade of ‘D’ or ‘F’ need additional supports to meet the unique challenges these particular schools face. We hope that the Governor and legislature see that they receive this help either through the school funding formula or the Department of Education.

 

The accountability grades clearly show that silver bullet solutions to ‘reform’ public education through the establishment of charter schools is not working. Six in 10 charter schools have earned a grade of ‘D’ or ‘F’. Also today, an ISTA member pointed out to us that traditional public schools averaged 3.3 points, while charter schools averaged only 1.9 points.

 

The poor performance of charter schools leads us to believe that further siphoning of resources from our community traditional public schools should be stopped. Since charter schools do not fall under the same accountability consequences as traditional public schools, a moratorium should be considered on approving additional charter schools.