Indiana's Education Web Pack>Parent Resources

How is your child’s school doing?

Indiana’s Accountability for System for Academic Progress (ASAP) – the award-winning site that provides every school and district in Indiana with a “snapshot page” giving users access to a variety of information in an easy-to-understand format, including contact information, demographic data, teacher information, school improvement planning goals, assessment results in an easy-to-understand format, maps, and more.

K-12 School Data – part of the Department’s ASAP Website; the link allows you to find data for one specific school corporation or compare data from different corporations.

Adequate Yearly Progress – The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires school corporations to show annual improvement in performance or Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). This site allows you to search for the AYP results for any Indiana school corporation or individual school and provides general information for the state for the current year.

School Accountability
- The No Child Left Behind Act – No Child Left Behind is the bipartisan education reform law proposed by President George W. Bush and passed into law by Congress on January 8, 2002. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) -- the main federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high school. NCLB is built on four principles: accountability for results, more choices for parents, greater local control and flexibility, and an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research.
- Public Law 221 – Public Law 221, also known as P.L.221-1999, is Indiana’s school improvement and accountability law, which predates the federal No Child Left Behind Act. As with NCLB, P.L 221’s guiding principals are standards, assessment and accountability. Key components of P.L. 221 are school improvement plans; professional development programs and grants; achievement grants; and consequences.

Academic Standards – Indiana’s K-12 academic standards have been recognized as being among the best in the nation for clearly establishing what students should know and be able to do at each grade level.

High School Diploma Requirements

Advanced Placement – Information on college-level courses offered in high school which count toward a student's high school graduation requirements and may enable the student to move directly into upper-level college classes in the specified area.

ISTEP+ InfoCenter – gives statewide data on the most current ISTEP+ testing results for grade-levels and student groups. The site also offers information on ISTEP+ testing dates, workshops, and other helpful information related to the test.

Important ISTEP+ Information Brochure (Grades 3 – 8)
Explains what the ISTEP+ test is, gives brief overviews on each section of the test, and answers to frequently asked questions.

The Learn More Resource Center – Indiana’s Pre-K to College Connection, which supports and encourages lifelong learning for all Indiana citizens. Up-to-date materials, helpful checklists and other valuable resources and tools provide parents, students, school counselors and others with information about every aspect of education from the early years of learning through K-12 education, college and beyond. The site provides searchable information (more than 40,000 pages of resource materials) including information on: Indiana Labor Market; Career Technical and Vocational Training; Apprenticeship Training Programs; Indiana Colleges and Universities and links to colleges across the nation; Career Interest Inventories (free); Career Planning activities for students and families; more than 500 Career Profiles with job skill requirements, Indiana state and regional wages and 10-year job outlook projections; targeted information on Indiana's emerging economic development areas - life sciences, information technology, twenty-first century logistics, advanced manufacturing; Job search and interviewing tips; resume writing tools; self-employment information; and parent information on supporting student learning.

Parents Count - The Learn More Parents Count section posts information on such topics as the importance of rigorous courses - especially in math and science - as well as real world skills such as financial literacy. Articles also include pointers about the ways parents can be effectively involved in their student's education; also available in Spanish.

PBS Kids: Ready To Learn - Ready To Learn is an innovative early education partnership between PBS and the US Department of Education. Ready To Learn integrates free and universally available children's educational television and online resources with community outreach to help parents and educators prepare young children for success in school.

PREP - This resource for 8th graders covers Core 40, the ISTEP+ Graduation Qualifying Exam and other basics of high school success, along with introductory career planning strategies.

Learn More InfoSeries - Continuously updated, the Learn More Information Series helps provide the information needed to succeed.

Indiana Guidance Report - Learn More Resource Center conducts an annual 9th and 11th Grade Student Survey to inform educators, policy makers and parents about student education and career expectations, interests, experiences and perceived limitations to continuing their education. Parents can compare their student's overall school responses to state averages and to other schools.

Trip to College - Paying for college is the single biggest concern that most parents have in the planning process. Check out this resource for parents from the Indiana Youth Institute.

Ask Student Services – a Web forum that allows members of the public to ask questions about student services such as counseling or regarding issues like attendance, peer mediation, private and home schooling, and school safety.

School Nutrition Programs – offers information on applying for free or reduced-price meals and special milk benefits.

Department of Education Help List – a list of helpful phone numbers for specific contacts and divisions within the Department.

The Learn More Resource Center – Indiana’s Pre-K to College Connection, which supports and encourages lifelong learning for all Indiana citizens. Up-to-date materials, helpful checklists and other valuable resources and tools provide parents, students, school counselors and others with information about every aspect of education from the early years of learning through K-12 education, college and beyond. The site provides searchable information (more than 40,000 pages of resource materials) including information on: Indiana Labor Market; Career Technical and Vocational Training; Apprenticeship Training Programs; Indiana Colleges and Universities and links to colleges across the nation; Career Interest Inventories (free); Career Planning activities for students and families; more than 500 Career Profiles with job skill requirements, Indiana state and regional wages and 10-year job outlook projections; targeted information on Indiana's emerging economic development areas - life sciences, information technology, twenty-first century logistics, advanced manufacturing; Job search and interviewing tips; resume writing tools; self-employment information; and parent information on supporting student learning.

Indiana College Answer – an online resource to help Indiana parents and students plan and pay for higher education.

State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana – site offers information on Indiana’s college assistance programs, gives links for other sources of aid, and features a section for frequently asked questions.

Indiana Commission for Higher Education – site offers links to the state’s higher education institutions and provides information about academic degree programs and state policies concerning higher education.

Drive of Your Life – resource provided by the Indiana Youth Institute that illustrates the importance of making a good career choice (Macromedia Flash player required).

Program Locations – provides a statewide directory of adult education facilities and General Equivalency Diploma (GED) programs by county.

Hot Links – various links to sites related to adult education and continuing education.

Performance Data – site offers information on how adult students are performing in state programs.

News Releases – Latest Department news

Indiana State Board of Education - Established by the General Assembly, the 11-member State Board of Education oversees state education policy-making. Its major responsibilities, set by statute, are to establish the educational goals of the state, developing standards and objectives for local school corporations; assess the attainment of the established goals; assure the compliance with established standards and objectives; and make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on the educational needs of the state, including financial needs.

Indiana’s Education Roundtable - Appointed and co-chaired by the Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction, Indiana's Education Roundtable serves to improve education for all Hoosier students. The Roundtable is a committed group of diverse stakeholders including key leaders from K-12 and higher education, business, industry and labor, parents and community, and the Indiana General Assembly. Their purpose is to focus collectively on critical issues in education and to set and maintain a vision for educational change and student success in Indiana.

Indiana’s P-16 Plan – The P-16 plan is a strategic framework for aligning policies, resources, and strategies across all sectors of Indiana’s education system. The framework includes 70 recommendations in 10 categories.

Indiana Commission for Higher Education - The Indiana Commission for Higher Education is a fourteen-member public body created in 1971 to define the educational missions of public colleges and universities; plan and coordinate Indiana’s state-supported system of postsecondary education; review budget requests from public institutions and the State Student Assistance Commission; and approve or disapprove for public institutions the establishment of new programs or expansion of campuses.

School Finance – provides a glossary of budget and finance terms

Virtual Library Inspire - offers magazines, encyclopedias, and other resources to all Indiana residents; allows members of the public to research current events, science, business, health, notable people, and hobbies from any library, school, home or office.