Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Accountability topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State accountability overhaul and school-grade system explained to Wes-Del board
Summary
Dr. Todd Bass of the Indiana Association for Principals told the Wes-Del board how the stateDOE's new school-grade system will assign grades by grade spans using ILEARN/IREAD, growth, attendance and other "student success indicators," and urged districts to focus on actionable levers such as attendance and credit recovery.
Dr. Todd Bass, executive director of the Indiana Association for Principals, explained a revamped state accountability system to the Wes-Del Community Schools board, outlining how new "school grades" will be assigned by grade span and how districts should respond.
Bass said the system combines academic mastery (measured by assessments such as ILEARN and IREAD, and in high school by SAT/credits and diplomas) with a set of "student success indicators" including growth percentiles, attendance and credit attainment. "Every kid is going to accumulate points, no matter where they're at," Bass told the board, emphasizing that the new approach gives schools multiple pathways to earn points beyond a simple pass/fail test threshold.
The presentation noted that grades are issued on a staggered schedule: K3 and 48 band grades, 612 bands, and separate 910 and 1112 calculations for high school. Bass highlighted practical levers for Wes-Del: continue promoting early literacy (IREAD), bolster attendance strategies, and expand credit-recovery or summer coursework so ninth-grade-on-track and credit milestones are not missed. He also advised the district to ensure accurate data handling: the DOE will ask districts to validate data on July 1 and run a second data grab in October for summer-school and graduation records.
On assessment and timing, Bass said some success indicators are tied to assessments that schools historically did not administer, and that districts should prepare to add those where needed. He cautioned against overemphasizing short-term SAT prep, arguing districts should instead invest in instruction and targeted supports that move cohorts rightward on the accountability grids.
Board members asked about whether the new measures could feed into teacher evaluations. Bass said that evaluation models vary by district and that the accountability outputs could inform evaluation conversations but are not a direct statewide teacher-evaluation mandate. He closed by urging trustees to focus on actionable, local strategies such as credit recovery, seventh-grade graduation plans, and data stewardship to influence school grades.
Next steps the board discussed included reviewing district data tools, identifying principal-level data leads, and preparing communication to staff and families once the DOE publishes final grades in the fall.
