Politics prevail as Indiana House passes school voucher bill

The Indiana House passed the controversial school voucher bill on Wednesday, just two days after a report from Wisconsin threw cold water on the claim that vouchers will improve educational opportunities for students. The House voted 56-42, mostly along party lines, for the measure, House Bill 1003. Three Republicans — Tom Saunders, Phil Hinkle and [...]

The myth about teacher effectiveness that won’t go away

Like a bad nickel, the claim that a teacher’s influence on learning is 20 times greater than any other variable, including poverty, keeps turning up in the debate over Indiana education policy. The latest to pass off the proposition is the Oregon-based organization Stand for Children. Stand landed in Indiana last month to lobby for [...]

Indiana charter schools rally to feature Rhee, Daniels

Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor and arguably the most polarizing figure in American education, will share a podium with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Brian Bosma this month at a rally in support of charter schools. The rally, at 11:30 a.m. on March 30 at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, is [...]

Bennett to testify on education measures before Senate committee

Here’s a chance to catch Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett talking about his education agenda – live on the Internet. Bennett is scheduled to testify at 4 p.m. Tuesday (March 22) before the Indiana Senate Appropriations Committee. Plans call for the committee hearing to be webcast at www.in.gov/legislative. (Click on the “Watch Indiana [...]

Reasons for caution on performance-based evaluation of teachers

If only we could give assigned reading to state legislators. At the very least, Indiana lawmakers should read these brief articles as they consider Senate Bill 1, which mandates performance-based pay for educators and makes it easier to fire teachers who get bad evaluations. Start with this column by Rutgers education professor Bruce Baker. He [...]

Lesson from PISA: raise the status of teachers

The U.S. needs to recruit and retain better teachers and raise the status of the teaching profession if it’s going to catch up with educational leaders like Finland, Canada and South Korea, according to a new report that draws on the much-talked-about PISA comparisons of educational outcomes. The report, “Lessons from PISA: What the U.S. [...]

Unlicensed teachers in charter schools? On what ‘BASIS’?

The Indiana Department of Education has generally done a pretty good job of responding to rumors and concerns about legislation it supports. But one recent communication from the department – about a provision to let up to half the teachers in charter schools be unlicensed – raises more questions than it answers. Dale Chu, the [...]

Some Republicans cool to school voucher idea

Gov. Mitch Daniels has so far been able to count on a solid wall of support for his education agenda from the Republican majority in the Indiana legislature. But the wall may be cracking when it comes to one key element of his agenda: state-funded vouchers to pay for private-school tuition. Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, [...]

Stanford study: Indiana charters better than most

Charter schools in Indiana picked up an endorsement this week from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University. A report from the center says reading and math gains for Indiana charter students were significantly better than for their peers in traditional public schools. “Significantly” is a relative term, however. Jonathan Plucker, [...]

Oregon group lobbying for teacher merit pay in Indiana

Stand for Children, an education advocacy group based in Portland, Ore., has parachuted into Indiana to join the push for Senate Bill 1, state legislation that would mandate performance pay for educators and make it easier to fire teachers. The group was recruited to the state by The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis nonprofit that seeks [...]