Indiana Ranks First in the Nation for Standards, Assessments, Accountability on Education Week's Quality Counts Report

Report underscores state’s push to expand early learning opportunities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
CONTACTS:
Jason Bearce, 317-232-6618
Mary Jane Michalak, 317-232-6616

Indiana’s expectations for K-12 students and schools earned high marks on Education Week’s 2007 Quality Counts report, an analysis of states’ progress in defining what young people need to know and be able to do to move successfully from one state of education to the next. 

“This report further confirms that Indiana has a strong foundation in place through our state’s educational policies,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed said. “It also shows that we have more work to do, particularly in expanding early learning opportunities like full-day Kindergarten and retaining more of our college graduates to ensure Indiana has a strong workforce.”

The Quality Counts 2007 report, entitled “From Cradle to Career, Connecting American Education, centered on four areas: 1) Chances for Success; 2) Aligning Education from Cradle to Career;
3) Elementary and Secondary Performance; and4) Standards, Assessments, and Accountability.
Education Week’s annual Quality Counts report, which traditionally included state report cards, focused this year on state efforts to connect education from pre-school through post-secondary education and training.

Chances for Success                                                                        Indiana Ranking: 30
The report’s “Chance-for-Success” index ranked states on 13 indicators. Indiana received points in the categories of family income, parental employment, linguistic integration, high school graduation and steady employment. The state neither gained nor lost points for elementary reading and middle school mathematics, but did lose points in the categories of parent education, preschool enrollment, kindergarten enrollment, post secondary participation, adult educational attainment, and annual income.

“We recognize that early childhood education is a priority, which is why we are continuing to push for full-day Kindergarten legislation that is fully funded for every school, voluntary for every parent and high quality for every student,” Reed said.

Reed noted that nearly all of the areas in which Indiana fell below the national average are those that the state is addressing through better educational alignment from pre-Kindergarten through college completion. Various studies, including a 2004 report by the Indiana Government Efficiency Commission have attributed the state’s higher education attainment ranking to a historical trend of college graduates leaving Indiana and being replaced by individuals with lower education levels.

“Indiana’s production of high school and college graduates is competitive with other states, but we continue to face a great difficulty in keeping those students,” Reed said.

Aligning Education from Cradle to Career                                                Indiana Ranking: 8
This area evaluated state efforts to connect K-12 education systems with early learning, higher education and the world of work, considering 15 key education policies. Indiana performed strongly overall, receiving credit for nine of the 15 policies. Three additional state policies, related to Indiana’s Core 40 curriculum and assessments, have already been approved that would further align K-12 education with colleges and the workforce. This section also underscored the need to better define and assess Hoosier children’s school-readiness, an area that is expected to be addressed through the long-term assessment plan approved by the Indiana State Board of Education in November 2005.

Elementary and Secondary Performance                                                Indiana Ranking: 31
State rankings in this area were determined using 15 individual indicators related to reading and math performance on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests, high school graduation rates and the results of Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Indiana scored above the national average on NAEP in all areas but Grade 8 reading, which state educational officials have acknowledged remains an area of concern. The number of high AP exam scores was the other area Indiana lost points although the state did gain points for significantly increasing the number of high AP scores since 2000.

Standards, Assessments, and Accountability                                    Indiana Ranking: 1
As noted above, Indiana achieved the highest rating of all states for its academic standards, assessments and accountability system. Indiana has consistently received national recognition in these areas since revising state standards in 2000 and aligning its assessments and accountability system with these rigorous expectations.

About Quality Counts

This is the eleventh year of publication for Education Week’s Quality Counts report. Each year in January Education Week issues a new edition of Quality Counts examining a central issue in education. This year’s report does not include indicators on school climate, efforts to improve teacher quality or school finance, as it has in past years.