The Indiana Department of Education officially released their controversial A-F grades for the state’s public and private schools this morning. But Marion County’s public and charter schools didn’t fare as well as all Indiana schools under the controversial new grading system. Statewide, 40.9% of Indiana schools earned grades of “A”; 20.1% earned B’s, 20.3% earned “C” and 18.6% earned D’s or F’s. In Marion County, though, the picture was vastly different as just 23.5% of the county’s public and charter schools earned A’s; 14.5% received B’s and 21.0% earned C’s. Some 41% of the city/county’s public schools earned D’s or F’s.
Click the link below then download the Excel Speadsheet file labeled “2012 School Grade Results” to see the A-F grades for ALL Indiana Schools
Department of Education Website of 2012 A-F School Grades
Many township districts saw the percentage of their schools earning A and B grades fall dramatically. Examples: Perry Township saw the percentage of their schools earned A’s and B’s fell from 64.7% last year to 40.1% this year. Pike dropped from 46.2% last year to 23.1% this year. A similar story in Warren Township where the percentage of schools receiving an A or B grade fell from 52.9% to 41.1%.
But there is some positive news. In the Indianapolis Public Schools, the number of schools earning A’s and B grades increased from 15.3% last year to 25.0% this year. Similar gains were shown in Lawrence Township which had no schools earning A’s and B’s last year to 56.2% this year. Wayne went from 12.5% to 30.3% and Franklin Township from 75% to 88.9%. Unfortunately the controversial growth factor led to an increase in the number of schools in IPS, townships and charters that had D and F grades. In IPS, 64.7% of their schools earned D’s and F’s this year compared to 49.1% last year. Among the charters in the city/county 40.7% earned the two lowest grades this year compared to 34.6% last year.
Specifically the Marion County public schools that earned A grades were: Franklin Township: South Creek, Mary Adams, Arlington, Kitley, Bunker Hill Elementary, Franklin Township Middle Schools East & West. Lawrence Township: Amy Beverland, Forest Glen and Sunnyside Elementary and Belzer Middle School. Perry Township: Southport 6th Grade Academy, Burkhart, Glenns Valley Jeremiah Grey and Rosa Parks Elementary. Pike Township: Eagle Creek Elementary and New Augusta South. Warren Township: Hawthorne, Lakeside, Lowell elementary and Raymond Park Intermediate. Washington Township: Allisonville and Crooked Creek Elementary. Wayne Township: Robey Elementary. Speedway: All schools received A grades. IPS: School 43, Merle Sidener, School 79, School 96, Arlington Woods, School 90, School 91, Center for Inquiry II, School 19. Charters: Irvington Community, Christel House Academy, KIPP, Charles Tindley, Padua Academy,
The only public high schools in Marion County receiving A grades were Crispus Attucks, Franklin Central, Speedway, Ben Davis University, Herron Charter,
The State Board of Education officially approved the controversial grades at a regularly scheduled meeting this morning. The grades, which were originally supposed to be released in August, are supposed to allow parents and the community to better understand the performance of Indiana’s schools. But this year the State changed the formula for computing a school’s performance grades, including a complicated “growth model” that is supposed to take into account student growth and other factors. 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. In high school letter grades are determined by 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).
