Tagged: education

In the wake of ISTEP testing disruptions that have called into question the validity of this year’s tests, the General Assembly this week will hold the first of two hearings investigating the issue.

State legislative leaders say they’re looking for answers behind recent problems with ISTEP testing that disrupted the exams of thousands of Hoosier students, and they’re forming a study committee to investigate.

The Indiana House Monday passed a school safety bill minus a controversial provision that could have required schools to arm teachers and principals.

The school safety bill creates a $10 million grant fund Indiana schools can use to evaluate existing school safety measures, purchase safety equipment or hire school resource officers –law enforcement with extra training for work in the school environment. 

The White House has said as many as 1,000 Indiana children will lose access to early education services because of automatic federal spending cuts. But Head Start won’t start cutting slots right away, and program directors have been told to look for money elsewhere.

Indiana’s highest-performing high school and college students could get some of their student loans paid back by the government if they teach in some of the state’s neediest subjects and areas.

Under legislation proposed by Indianapolis Democratic Representative Justin Moed, the state would pay back nine thousand dollars in student loans after a graduate of an Indiana college teaches three years in a Hoosier school. 

State lawmakers are pushing legislation that would create a financial literacy curriculum for the state, encouraging schools to teach skills such as investing, balancing a checkbook, and applying for loans. 

Supporters of the legislation say students are graduating high school without basic financial skills.

Greenwood Republican Senator Brent Waltz says that’s not a new problem.

A state panel has voted to make it easier for non-education majors who earn Bachelor’s degrees to get teaching jobs.  That’s one part of a broad package of changes to Indiana’s rules for teacher licensing the State Board of Education approved Wednesday. But opponents fear the new standards sets the bar too low.

The State Board’s final 9-2 vote ends months of debate on the proposal known as “REPA II.”  State education officials say the new guidelines give schools more flexibility in the teacher hiring process.