State program has quietly improved performance in more than 100 struggling schools
03/17/2015

 

In 2013, under the direction of Superintendent Ritz, the Department of Education completely revamped the approach in how Indiana was helping struggling schools turn around their performance. Since then, the Outreach Division of School Improvement has improved 103 D and F schools to a grade of C, B and A.

 

The school turnaround program has become a national model for its approach in improving schools and seeing that students succeed. Rather than the top-down approach implemented by the Bennett administration, the DOE created 9 regions in the state all staffed by educational professionals who live in the regions they serve.

 

In approving Indiana’s NCLB waiver last year, the USDOE recognized the work of Indiana’s Division of Outreach as exemplary in school improvement.

 

Juxtapose the DOE’s record of school improvement with that of the private management companies’ that are charged with improving the five schools currently in state takeover status.

 

All five schools currently under state takeover received Fs for multiple years. Now, well into the fourth year of takeover, only one school of the five managed to raise its grade to a D last year-- the rest remain Fs.

 

All of the state takeover schools have seen steep enrollment drops. Enrollment has dropped between 35 and 60 percent for the four takeover schools located in Indianapolis.

 

The legislature is currently considering HB 1638, which aims to accelerate state takeover of struggling schools. The bill gives the State Board of Education power to intervene after four years instead of the current 6 years. This will no doubt result in increasing the amount of local schools being run by more outside-management companies, perhaps even the same companies failing to turnaround the current five takeover schools.

 

Worse yet, HB 1638 creates yet another school governance model called transformation zones. The transformation zones begin with struggling schools, but they can also bring in "feeder schools" from the district that are not failing, potentially opening up the door to entire districts run by outside companies.

 

If that weren’t enough, these management companies would specifically receive their funding directly from the state and would be given access to buildings, contents, equipment, facilities and all student records. This comes at a time when cases of charter fraud, mismanagement and closures are on the rise nationally, including in Indiana.

 

Rather than handing over schools to outside management companies, the legislature should allow, foster, and promote the DOE’s continued work with struggling schools. Their grassroots, local approach to helping these students is working and its record after only a year speaks volumes.

 

Read more about the Outreach Division on the DOE website at www.doe.in.gov/outreach.

 

You can tell legislators to oppose HB 1638 on our advocacy page.