Why School Accountability Matters and What It Means For You

When the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation (IPEC) formed earlier this spring, the Indiana legislature tasked it with creating a shared accountability framework for Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) and charter schools within IPS boundaries.

But what is an accountability framework for public schools? And what will having one that is specific to Indianapolis change for you and your students?

A History of School Accountability in Indiana

School accountability is a formal process for evaluating school quality. It’s typically based on test scores, graduation rates, and other key indicators of how well a school and its students are performing. In 2011, Indiana adopted a statewide accountability framework that gave schools A-F letter grades. That framework made state test scores the primary input for a school’s letter grade. Schools that earned failing grades multiple years in a row faced potential state takeover or closure.

While that framework was in place, Indiana’s standardized tests changed multiple times before settling on the current ILEARN test. Changes to the state test made it difficult to assign letter grades, so the state paused them in 2018. They also permanently removed the potential for state takeover in 2021.

The state then went without a formal accountability framework until this year, when it launched a fully-reworked A-F accountability framework to provide families a comprehensive snapshot of school quality. This framework now evaluates schools across academic and social measures, like regular school attendance and work-based learning opportunities. While test scores remain important, they are no longer the sole input for what letter grade a school receives. Schools will receive their first letter grade by the end of this calendar year. This year, the grades are merely informational and do not carry consequences.

The Importance of a Local Accountability Framework

Indianapolis is fortunate to have a diverse school choice landscape. But this diversity means that it needs a framework that supports IPS and charter school authorizers in making consistent, informed decisions around school closures. Currently, IPS and local charter school authorizers use different frameworks to make these decisions.

Before we dive into that, though, it’s important to distinguish between a school closure and a building closure. A school closure means ending a school program because of chronically low performance across multiple years and multiple metrics. That is ultimately the decision of the IPS board (for direct-run schools) and charter school authorizers (for public charter schools).

A building closure is meant to address inefficiencies in the use of school facilities. IPEC will make those decisions.  

While IPEC will not make school closure decisions, it was formed in part to bring greater transparency and consistency to school accountability in Indianapolis. In particular, the state legislature charged IPEC with developing a local accountability framework to complement the state’s A-F model that IPS and charter authorizers will use to improve school quality.

How IPEC is Advancing Local Accountability

Now, a core group of IPEC board members have been tasked with developing an accountability framework that is streamlined and creates a fair playing field where all traditional IPS schools, Innovation Network schools, and charter schools are held to the same standards, including when it comes to school closure decisions and facility usage.

That will be good for families, schools, and our education system as a whole. In our next post, we’ll look at how IPEC is approaching the creation of this new framework.