Indiana Takes Action to Fix Federal NCLB Law

Changes/Waviers Requested

Action Type: Legislation

Description of Action: Legislature introduced HCR40, a bill which would urge Congress to reevaluate "No Child Left Behind" act.

Status of Action: Inrtoduced, 3/26/2007

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Action Type: Legislation

Description of Action: State legislature introduced HB 1389. Summarized as follows: notwithstanding any other law, the department may not base accreditation of a school or the employment of school personnel on the guidelines set out under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) without the prior approval of the general assembly.

Status of Action: Passed House 56 -40 - 2/27/07

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Changes / Waivers Requested

Action Type: Official Action

Description of Action: The Indiana State Board of Education is expected to adopt a new system for evaluating schools and districts. The homegrown approach holds schools accountable for state test-score gains over time, rather than by how many students pass math and reading tests in one year -- an approach used under No Child Left Behind. As a result, the Indiana data is expected to contrast with the federal evaluations, and parents may find themselves grappling to understand why federal rules rated their school as failing while Indiana ranks it among the best in the state -- or vice versa. This is the first year that Indiana has judged its 2,000 schools based primarily on how students fare on the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus. Indiana lawmakers approved the state system in 1999, but it was put on hold when Congress passed NCLB two years later.
- Indianapolis Star, August 9, 2006

Status of Action:

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Changes/Waivers Requested

Action Type: Official Action

Description of Action: “At least one-fifth of the states say they plan to apply for a pilot program that would let them use a measure of student growth over time to help determine whether schools and districts have met their annual achievement targets under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Many other states, moreover, appear eager—judging from their participation in recent conference calls and meetings on the topic—at least to explore the possibility of applying for the ‘growth models’ pilot. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the program in November, following pressure from states and education groups. (“U.S. to Pilot New Gauge of ‘Growth’," Nov. 30, 2005.)

Officials in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Utah all told Education Week that they were planning to apply for the pilot initiative. The Department of Education released further guidance on the program, which has a Feb. 17 deadline for applications, on Jan. 27. As many as 10 states could take part after going through a peer-review process.”
- Education Week, February 1, 2006

Status of Action:

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Cost or Participation Study

Action Type: Official Action

Description of Action: STUDY PREDICTS 95 PERCENT OF GREAT LAKES SCHOOLS WILL BE LABELED "FAILING" BY 2014

Fewer schools in the Great Lakes region were labeled "failing" this year. That will change, however, if the federal No Child left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) continues to be the driving force behind the measurement of school and student success. Most schools in the region will labeled "failing" by 2014, according to "The Impact of the Adequate Yearly Progress Requirement of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act on the Great Lakes Region," a study released by the Great Lakes Center for Educational Research and the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University.

The study is the first multi-state research to use actual state data to predict how schools will fair under No Child Left Behind current Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements. The authors, Edward C. Wiley,
University of Colorado-Boulder; William J. Mathis, University of Vermont; and David R. Garcia, Arizona State University, assessed how much gain schools made in 2003-2004 and used these data along with each state's established growth expectations to predict how many schools will meet the federal requirement of 100 percent proficiency on state high-stakes tests by 2014.

Regardless of the growth expectations set by the Great Lakes states, the research findings are clear: Approximately 95 percent of the schools in the Great Lakes region will be labeled "failing" by 2014.

In Indiana, under the best case scenario, it is projected that 54 percent of schools will fail by 2014. Under a more realistic scenario, 80 to 85 percent of schools will fail.

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Changes/Waivers Requested

Action Type: Legislation

Description of Action: State Senate introduced SB258. The bill authorizes the Department of Education to seek waivers from NCLB provisions that conflict with Indiana school accountability measures

Status of Action: last action 1/21/04

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