001Good evening. I hereby call to order the work session of the board of school commissioners for Tuesday, December 9th, 2025. Would you please stand and join me in recent United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Before we get started, I would note that we will have English translation services available at the agenda and action session next week. I want to thank everyone for being here for our December work session. To begin, Miss James, could you please call the role? >> Commissioner Kerry, >> present. >> Commissioner Cosby, Commissioner Imp >> present. >> Commissioner Thomas >> present. >> Secretary Thompson >> present. >> Vice President Star. President Moore >> here. >> Thank you. Before we start, I'd like to acknowledge and
002welcome a special group who group join us this evening, the members of Alpha Alpha Sorority Incorporated. They're here tonight for their AK AKA day and the school board to show their support for our students and staff. I'd like to give their central regional director director and Indiana state coordinator for connection and social action a few minutes to address the board. Good evening, Madam President, Dr. Johnson, board members, and communities. My name is Alexander Hall, and I have the privilege of serving as the Indiana State Coordinator for connection and social action for Alphac Alpha Sority Incorporated. and I'm a very proud member of the Kai Omega chapter located right here in Indianapolis. On behalf of our organization, I want to extend our sincere appreciation for your warm welcome and partnership. We are especially proud to be
003here at Indianapolis public schools this evening where our very own Dr. Alicia Johnson serves as the superintendent. She leads with excellence, vision, and heart. Many of our members are also proud IPS educators, faculty, and staff serving daily to ensure students have access to equitable highquality education. Aka Dance School Board strengthens our connection to the local education community and reminds us that advocacy begins at the classroom level. We are committed to supporting IBS and continuing our work to advance educational equity, civic engagement, and service to all mankind. Thank you again for your hospitality and for allowing us to share in this moment of collaboration and purpose. >> Thank you Alice and thank you to your sorority here your continued commitment to our community action and education. With that we move to section two of the agenda.
004Do any commissioners wish to have open comments that they would like to share? Seeing none moving to item 2.02 02. I would like to mention that we'll continue to accept written public comment through our online portal. The written public comment portal is available under the school board tab at my at my.org and will remain open until 4 p.m. on Thursday, December 18th. At this time, we have not received any written public comments. It is my understanding that we have not had anyone sign up to provide public comment for tonight. Is there anyone present who believes that they have registered to sign up to speak? If so, please state your name for the record and then provide your comments. I now turn the agenda with Dr. Johnson for summer. >> Thank you, President Moore. Good evening,
005commissioners. Um, another special thank you to my sorority incorporated. Thank you for your support and for being here is very much appreciated. Uh we have two items on the agenda this evening. Item 3.01 which is our updates on our innovation renewals for two of our partners. So I welcome Ricky Ritter at this time to provide the update. >> Good evening Dr. Johnson. Good evening commissioners. Good evening, Dr. Commissioners. Uh Rick Ritter, director of schools back to provide uh an update on the renewals for innovation contracts uh for this fall. I'm just going to briefly share uh a overview of the the renewal process and then we'll get the opportunity to hear from uh the principal of Paramount online academy who has graciously joined us this evening. Um leadership from Hope Academy was not able to
006join us. Um she is out of town. So I will be sharing the hope academy updates so we can learn more about that school uh and have the chance to ask any questions about the schools. Quickly to review, uh, renewal process has three main components. The first is a renewal report. That's a summary of data. Everything from enrollment to state testing data, uh, chronic absenteeism, anything you could be interested in learning about the school, uh, a report developed by IPS. Uh, the second piece is a site visit report. We spend a day with um charter authorizers in this case in the school um getting a better feel for culture and climate in the school u and have a report to share on that site visit. The third piece is the actual contract itself. Um so
007all three of these components by the end of this week will be uh in a folder that I'll be able to share with the commissioners. So you can have that in advance. And again to review, uh the administration is proposing a five-year [clears throat] renewal u for both of these partners. Um given especially their unique models, Paramount Academy as a virtual school serving K and Hope Academy as a substance use disorder high school serving students in grades 9 through 12. With that, I will pass it along to principal Tony Gross to share some more about online. All right. Good evening. Commissioners may graciously I'm not sure what that means. I'll do my best. I just want to take a few minutes to kind of share a little quick snippy button here. So academy is a
008member of the parent school of excellence network schools. here in the city all together. All of our schools share the same mission impact and values. We empower all students to persevere and achieve academic success and a culture of excitement community collaboration. We operate within principles at each of the schools all the box for cultural learning. I'll touch on these throughout the presentation but just a focus on character community development values we the network has a really strong emphasis of hiring the right people in our schools so I can I can coach instruction tasks processes but I can't teach someone to have strong work ethic alone children are passionate for teaching So if we find the right people we can find that will have a bigger impact on student learning more than text. So our focus
009first for first and foremost is find the right people for our students in our schools. We do follow a very rigorous standards based curriculum developed across the network. We follow that throughout the year for daily checks for understanding weekly assessments in our teachers instruction. uh we do provide additional support and extension services for students based on their needs throughout the school year through various interlocks during school day. So kind of what our vision at the online academy is, we're committed to all students, family and staff. We would love to be prepared to figure out where we're standing instruction. Everything we do is driven around data, making sure our students are are learning performing. Um I tell my families, each of my new family orientation meetings before they enroll with us that you will be hearing
010from us often, especially virtual because we're literally in your homes and you're we are collaborative partners. So we we provide constant intentional communication with all our families. Uh we want to provide meaning support services for all of our students wherever they fall. And then when I got hired on PLA, one of the things I virtual school previous experience online would be best. Okay. just just a few celebrations. Um it's not possible to share all the data with you effectively. I don't think all of that today. So I pulled out some of the things that are working well for us. Um being an innovation school with IPS allows us to implement the schools instruction. Each of our schools follow the same instructional cycle throughout each day and then our students show successes within that model. Couple
011things I pulled out here for you. Decided proficiency rates over the last four years. Two of those years. So we're we're happy with our third grade program [clears throat] different groups of kids every year. So it's always a new challenge, but we're doing well in that area. our authorizers educational with Tri University and something that that they and I look at what we call legacy students. Students with us three or more years in our school three or more years and we know that students who spend a longer period of time with us perform better in our school program. And so I just pulled out this spring 2025 media where our legacy students perform 80% higher than the non legacy 20% choice higher that's across the board three together students who with us longer stay with
012us and perform better we know that I have about 150 students right now school and I know probably we can keep the best programs for us. Um I do have four students that have been with us since day school years ago proficiency level is a chronic medical student who has a very short life expectancy will be with us much longer. However, he's still getting a quality education while time with his family. But I do want to know that he did just get a bubble just check. So he's he is still making some progress but checkpoint 2 is not his his highest priority right now for his family but he's still getting quality education and still making us. So that was really exciting to see the last celebration I want real quick is just the staff
013retention rates and this is my second year um in 2425 last school year I was able to bring over four teachers that I worked with previously and so I was able to increase our teaching online teaching experience from 9 years to 3 years that's critical in the online world to be able to understand how students learn in the online world how to use those technologies and platforms to deliver quality instruction because we have those working relationships and I was able to get the staff that currently current to the school um more training more proficiency and online teaching I was able% last year this year that's really hard to do this school our teachers are committed to do well looking ahead Oh, one other celebration I don't have on here is we just held in partnership
014Paramount Cottage Channel the first ever family measurement event for our school in um so I still we do want to provide some inerson experiences first hospital so we do a partnership with them had a great turnout 150 families came for our family this night got an author on site activities for the kids we parent night provide some meals provide a meal for them so I that stand at high school next school. So those are events. So that's that we do have some inerson opportunities for school. So looking ahead to what our partnership could provide um over the years to come. We've been able to I want to be able to increase opportunities for students and some things that we've been able to do this year include great accelerations, course placement, flexible scheduling. Um I have
015to worry about special schedules, lunch schedules, bus transportation, adult buildings for various reasons. Um, we can easily move kids around on what they need by providing different we've been able to do great acceleration. I had a a second grade student last year who was really high performing. um really challenged. We did we we accelerated to grade three after working with the family becoming my highest performer 93. He's now in fourth grade still performing very highly um all his coursework but it's great to see him performing that well even though he's about two years younger than his academic years but he needed that opportunity to accelerate. I have a first grader this year who's staying in the first grade math when we move her to second grade because she need that opportunity to excel there and
016we can do that in the online world pretty easily. Uh course placements are something I'd like to be able to expand in our network where we have students who need more than just what we're able to offer in the core instruction. For example, an eighth grade student that I have from the south area um just could not stay enrolled in his local school because of behavior issues. Uh so he came to us he said hi he's really smart kid we just got himself in trouble because he was always bored with the work and so now he's with us he's doing great and we able to place him in algebra one course he's my only student in algebra one course high school credit for it and doing great uh flexible scheduling I had a student is
017a training for professional dance there performing in that record so she just needed a flexible schedule um while maintaining her course so those are opportunities I that we can provide students as we look to expand our programming around the state for students. Um, so those are those are some of our celebrations, some of our snippets of data and opportunities moving forward. We have a really positive outlook for what could become the next five years. Happy to answer any questions that you might have. Hello. Good evening. Thank you. Um, I just have a couple questions. Um, how, uh, where do your students come from? Do they come from all over? >> They come from all over. We're state school. So, I have our largest population is right here in >> Okay. I have students in Lafayette,
018South Bend, Fort Wayne, Huntington, Rodale, which is over by zero. I have a student in Richmond and student Cooko in Anderson. >> I actually have a student now in Franklin. So, we're all over. >> Cool. And then the only other question I had was I know the capacity there at College is pretty tight. Um any thoughts on how with the cottage home expanding and your online academy also expanding how uh the use of building are you guys going to find your own space or any >> our office is attached to the same building is in the same office or their central office in space wise we're finding spacewise for my staff my staff about half my staff work remotely have my staff work site that's by choice because I have teachers from around the state
019which helps with doing testing. They don't have to have everybody in the office normally and I are always treating kids back and forth. So every other week we're passing kids back and forth with us before it's been a good relationship space. >> Very awesome. Thank you. Okay. Um, one, I I just want to thank you for being here and um, sharing this information. Um, this is really, really helpful. Um, and I do have a few questions, um, for clarity, for my understanding. Um, so you kind of answered this a little bit. Um, but I'm wondering if you all survey your families to find the why of why they are choosing Paramount online. Like why are they selecting online? because I know um what we know as far as like the online school launched in the
020pandemic online was the way you know um and so you all created a vessel but afterwards some kids still needed online you know so why are students and families still choosing they're not online >> I have 150 kids 150 different reasons um but in my new family orientation meeting I said I'll leave will they complete a quick form for me eth grade students and then the reason why they're bullying. Uh I had two students, two families show up today. One student did bullying, one said life or life life style. I'm not sure what that means, but most of the kids we get are coming to us because um conflicts in the previous schools. Uh I do receive a lot of students from the south end area because of transportation issues. They can't get to the
021local schools in South Bend. um or they're transferring to us from Paramount South and because of lack of transportation. Um and then I have students who have also come to us because through other schools within our network because of attempted suicides, their mental health treatments, but they still stay with us while they're going through school. So there's a variety of reasons, but most seem to be uh conflicts in the previous school with peer relations. That seems to be the predominant reason. Thank you for that. Um, yeah, that's Yeah, I didn't even think about that. I actually do know a mom who had to switch her kids because she was having a lot of mental health shifts. Um, and so getting her kids to school every day was it was heavier than >> Yeah. Thank you
022for that. Um, and then with the third graders one, that's amazing. 100% passing. How many third graders did you have in 2025? never always remember the numbers that are up and down. >> I mean, especially when it's 16 17 with this being the first year for the third grade retention. I mean, and they're taking I mean, they're doing everything online. That's amazing. Um, and then with staff retention, what changes increase staff retention from 66% to 100%. I know you said um you've been leading the school for about two years. Normally leadership change since the like have that dip um and then increase what I wanted to hear. >> This week actually >> yeah 2023 that's exactly what happened. I came in December 2023 um worked with the staff for our semester um with high expectations.
023Three of my teachers I non reviewed one teacher. Two of them decided they didn't want to fit in our model anymore which was okay with me because this is the direction we're headed. So I was able to bring those and I knew that online experience with good teachers. Um, and then just providing that constant coaching, relationship, building, building school culture, be able to maintain through this year. I do have one teacher I know is going to hang up her 25 years of special education. I think she's done it this year. So, >> I won't have a I won't have 100%. Well, and then I know you mentioned something around u you said challenges and then you said well uh different we get a different group of kids every year and I was like oh he's
024not going to dump deep and you're like well I would like to know what does that mean? So um the mobility in your school it looks different with it being online because sometimes you're serving those kids online for different needs. What does that mean? >> Of our iLearn testers last year 68.09% 09% of our kids were new to us on last year. So that tells you what the mobility is in the online world. That's in every online school to say that's not that's not unique to us. And again, that's kids looking for just a pass through option to get from one year to the next kids who are having computer relations. That's what that looks like. That's becomes a real challenge. And so when you have just 30, what was it? 31.9% of your kids
025returning for learn test. That makes it a challenge. You're always going to get these caught up um and close those gaps as quickly as possible. But those kids who do keep coming back to us are the ones that are performing performing better. >> What does that look like when you are trying to accelerate a child's learning, they're coming into an online environment, which is probably very new for them, um and you're trying to accelerate their learning to catch them up. What does that look like for you all when you know you you've got your traditional course courses, but what is like push in pull out? What does that look like? um the core content, the core classes. So every student has their core language arts and math class and then we build a title time
026which is basically an instructional additional services instructional time intervention work throughout the day and every one of my elementary students goes to title time regardless of your ability level. So um my three four I have three teachers in third, fourth and fifth grade 18. who had not passed the regard. So they're doing basically I boot camp right now to get those kids ready for for I for those kids who have passed I got three of them right now I grade two as third graders they go into grade four so to acceleration whereas the other fourth graders who are in that program are mediation so we're able to double up our title time to create both radiation and acceleration services at the same time services that's how we do that I just send to the right,
027the right student, the right teacher, right? >> Oh, activity. [clears throat] Um, you mentioned um specials. You kind of like said that too, like so there's no specials. Um, how can you keep the kids active? I know you said you had the um some of the um parent based program or events that you connect with other Paramount schools, but um do you create like spaces for the kids to socialize? >> That don't work. >> No, it doesn't work. Uh now we actually we we our day is so full of academics that we don't have a block of time for social uh their engagement or their social life really occurs outside of school but they do have a block of time over the lunch period that they can go do those activities. Um but we do
028have three students or four students are part of a homeschool network or a co-op and so they actually come together in a building out west um where they have a a learning coach works with them. So there'll be dog in classroom using our program as their school day. So that's there's some some parents do get creative about how they provide opportunities for the families. Uh not all of our parents do that. Um but a lot of our families do participate in extracurricular outside of school. literature to review scouts and we do have one girls in front club that pulls in elementary girls from both our building and >> so my final question um so what's the benefit um of the partnership with IPS um for most of our partners you know with building transportation etc
029you're online you don't have need a building um what's the benefit The benefit that I see is it gives us the opportunity to be flexible in our program. It allows us to use the paramount schools of excellence instructional model. It gives us the it gives us the freedom to develop the program that best fits our kids without that's right. I don't need a building. >> Well, thank you so much. >> My apologies. The final part that you were saying I didn't hear you. So, do you hate to ask you to repeat yourself, but I wanted to hear you said that the benefit was instructional instruction. Can you repeat yourself? experience uh the instructional freedom to make to be able to do uh be able to follow the paramount instructional model. I guess gives us the
030ability to be uh to develop program that we are kids needs without being tied to a specific curriculum or a textbook. And I just my u followup question just a little bit more clarity because I I haven't had experience in an online school besides my neighbors who were um experienced it in a traumatic way during the pandemic. So could you I know that we're going to get the follow-up reports which I I look forward to um reading through. Can you just take us through a typical day? Um, I know the chaos of a 9hole looks like when I'm getting my girls up to get ready for school, but um, in an online environment, can you just kind of walk us through what that day looks like? Thank you. >> Yeah, it's a little bit different
031for kindergarten through second grade because they are they are singleton teachers. They have their own classrooms. Grades three through five or three through eight are departmentalized. So what typ typical day for all students is they will come in for language arts class which is a 90-minute block that includes reading, language arts and writing. Kindergarten, first grade are a little bit longer because they also bring in the phonics or building work as well in addition to the reading writing instruction. Um three through talk three through eight now. um they do language arts instruction and then they have a writing block with the writing teacher which is 90 minute block and then they have a math block at 90 minutes and then all my three through five also come into a 45minut title time. So their their
032day is pretty full academically with live instruction which is one of the real benefits of Paramount online compared to other virtual schools in the state is how much live instruction their students receive versus asynchronous. Now there is a synchronous work that they do that's built in around that live time. Uh my middle school follows the same model language arts class built in with writing built into that and then math instruction and their title time is going to be split between language arts and math depending on what their needs are and those are typically in the afternoon and then their asynchronous time is going to build in and around those blocks of instruction. So typically depending on your grade level it could be first thing in the morning between 11:15 and 1 or after 2:30 >>
033you have questions. >> So is that similar to >> your model um in the classroom as well? >> Yeah data search just delivered different platform. So I guess I heard that the benefit of the partnership is that you get to expand the model to more kids. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Thank you very much. Thank you. As I mentioned, uh, Rachel Gardner is not able to join us this evening, but I will quickly review her slides for our second school of renewal, and that is Hope Academy. Hope is a high school um that is committed to providing a safe, sober, and challenging academic experience for high school students with substance use disorder. and they've been operating. This is their 20th year uh supporting families established in 2026. As I mentioned, they relocated to
034the south side of the IPS boundary in 2020 and then had their initial innovation agreement uh the following year. In 2020 2021, they served two students that lived in the IPS foundry. The following year, the first year with their innovation agreement, they served 11. Uh, and in the current school year, they are so far have served 15 students, uh, 15 IPS students. So, increasing year-over-year uh, since the partnership with IPS began. Uh, the school and model is really, uh, a national leader in the the substance use recovery space. Um, this is the only high school of its kind in Indiana. So, we're lucky to have it uh within the FPS boundary and one of only 10 schools in the whole country credited by the Association of Recovery Schools. They currently enroll 36 students as of
035their most recent EVM. Um seats typically fluctuate between 35 and 40 at any time. Uh and since 20 2006 um they've graduated 200 students um which we think about when we think about um the students that are enrolling here. Many of them don't see high school graduation as a possibility given their um history with academics uh and their substance use disorder. Um so really it's um a testament to the great work that openly staff uh is doing. About 50% of their students are engaged in uh guiding paths to success which is a social program that offers a safe environment to have sober fun and form meaningful connections with peers. Um they attribute their social programmings social programming in addition to the academics to their high attendance rate. 92% a strong attendance rate for traditional school
036let alone a school for students during recovery. They've got a number of wraparound services that they are able to provide access to to their students that they wouldn't normally have access to, including occupational therapy. Um they're starting a pilot for outpatient services in 2026 that they're excited about. Um they also recognize that um you know the whole family has to be a priority when uh someone in the family unit is struggling with substance use disorder. So they engage family, parents and caregivers um quite a bit through through their model. Quick video that I think will give uh some good context for the work that's happening at home. [music] D. [music] Lou. D. [music] D. to [music] [music] do. Lou [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Those are the slides. I don't have the
037>> You think you know David's >> school level experience. Uh so I'm not sure I'll be able to navigate questions as well as principal Rose just did, but uh happy to answer any immediate questions that you might have about. I'll also share that um Michelle Gardner, the executive director, uh will be at the meeting on Thursday for potential questions. If you would like me to invite her on Tuesday uh to answer questions there, happy to do that. >> Question of students to >> It's a good question um that I would have to follow up exactly on. Um, I know they served 15 so far, IPS students this year. Um, I'm not sure about exactly how many of those have been like at a direct manage school and then have been referred to based on their
038needs. Um but I can follow you know my followup question to what President Moore just said um is how do we share this with our school leaders to know that this is an opportunity um like how do we share that information like do we share with social workers principles know like how because this is a really special program. So, um I'm just curious about how we get the word out um because no matter which school you go in, like it's just it's a lot that you see in the community um that's going on with our teams. So, I'm just curious why um the numbers are pretty low, you know, um because sometimes it can feel like it could become an equity issue like you know because you some folks are aware and those folks who
039are aware get access they're privileged to be aware like how do we build up more awareness and how are we already creating awareness so that would be my question which I don't expect you to answer. I in the same line too. I guess the question for me is what is their capacity to serve students? >> They have they have 40 seats. >> They have 40 seats. So only 40 seats. Yeah. We'll get the reports on to read on Thursday or >> before the end of the week. Yes. Thank you Ricky and thank you to the mount team for attending and we will see next week is fun. Um the second item is item 3.02 which is an update on the state accountability model. So commissioners will remember we've talked briefly about this. This has certainly
040been in the space at the state level for several months as they've been working uh to build the new state accountability framework. So, um, thankful to have Sean here, uh, who's going to give us a walk through of the draft as it stands today, which is very important to say because it is not yet finalized. So, we fully expect there will be changes, but want to give you all a sense of where the work is currently. So, Sean, I'll turn it to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Johnson. Um, yes. So, thank you, commissioners, for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I'm going to just preface at the beginning that everything I share with you tonight is based on the current draft model and is subject to change and is just a proposal. In fact,
041we expect many things to change. Um, and instead of saying propose proposed all the time, I'm just going to say that up front as we go through this presentation uh this evening. So, um, our goal today is to review the proposed state accountability rule to gain an understanding of the current proposal and next steps. Some key information for you as we go through this. Um, as I said, this is a draft and the information will change. We anticipate further updates tomorrow at the state board of education meeting and as well as in January at the state board of education meeting. Right now, we're anticipating an approval of a rule in January. Um, but that could change. Uh, and we will share updates with you all as they become available. I will collaborate and coordinate with
042Dr. Johnson on making sure you all have updated information as we have it. Um, so we're going to talk about the overview of the rule. I am going to attempt to pause strategically during this to answer questions but also feel free uh to interrupt me if there is a question or something is not making sense. So uh to start a key shift in this accountability model is that the proposed model moves to a more student center accountability um in which each eligible student generates points for a school. So if you think about old our old accountability model, it was really at an aggregate level, right? It was how did this school perform overall on iLearn or before that IEP and based on that and a couple of other factors, the school was given a grade
043at a school level. In this model, each student generates points for the school. Okay, any eligible student generates points for the school and then those points are divided by the total number of students to generate a grade. Okay, so we're going to talk about how those points get generated uh through this model. So first the state breaks this into four grade level bands K3 48 910 and 112. And you will see under each of those bands it tells us who is counted. So for example in that K3 band third graders are generating points. However we also know that what happens in K2 is critical to what happens in third grade. Right? And so while third graders are the ones generating points all of those efforts from K through three feed into this model eventually right
044it's the same story throughout. For example, even in 910, it is 10th graders who generate points. But you will see as we go through this, much of that work and how they generate points is based on what they did in ninth grade. Okay? So, while only these specific grade levels generate points, the students in these grade levels, every grade level is critical to this model. Um and then we'll talk about in a little bit in fourth uh through 8th grade you can either be eligible performance only or eligible. We'll talk about that difference as we move through the presentation. Okay. So here's the underlying structure of how students generate points. There is an academic mastery metric. That is the starting point. Think of that sort of like a bucket that students begin in. And then
045from there, there are student success indicators that layer on top of that academic mastery metric. Those two things combined determine how many points a student generates. We're going to talk through that in detail, but it's those two pieces that go together to determine the points. Catching myself up to my notes. Okay, so let's start with the academic mastery mentoring. This is one of the handouts I gave you because I thought it might be helpful just to have it there for you to look at as we go through this. Um, and so on one side of this is the academic mastery metric. On the other side are the student success indicator. So the two main pieces, right? So starting with the academic mastery metric, you'll see across the top in third grade, the measure being used
046for this is I learn ELA and I learn math. It's the same for fourth through 8th grade. That's what's being used for the academic mastery metric in 10th grade. In the current proposal, it is freshman on track. So that's that idea of what's happening in the freshman year matters for the points generated in the sophomore year, right? And then in 12th grade, it is diploma seals. So those are the things that are determining those are the metrics. And then you can see so for example if I am a fourth grader who was at proficiency on iLearn then I would be at expectations right I'd be in green if I was a 10th grader who earned nine credits in my freshman year I would be in the approaching expectations academic mastery bucket. So you use this
047kind of as a cross-section to find what starting place each student is in for generating points. Okay. I'm going to pause there for questions before we go to student success indicators. Okay. >> Yeah. Um, with the diploma seals, um, you said for 12th graders, they get points for that, but they're like different seals. >> Yes, it's through the different seals. Yes. >> Now, so no matter which seals they earn, there's the same amount of points, or do they? >> Yeah. So, if they earn an honors um, plus seal, that would put them above expectations. that they earn an honor seal. So there's an honors plus seal, an honors seal, and graduating without a seal. So those are right. So the difference between the honors plus that would be above and then honors is at. And
048I will also say we're going to get here in a minute, but there are two different sets of rules for 12th grade because we're right now in the transition to the new diplomas. So right now the current diplomas are factored in here at that at and above level expectation too. So we'll we'll get there as well. Great question. And so then the next piece of this are the student success indicators. That is on the other side of the sheet that I gave you. Um, and so this shows at each grade level band what additional pieces students can earn or use to show success in their educational journey. So as you know in the old model most everything was I learn ELA and I learn math. It was all ELA and math. You will see here
049um passing the state science test and social studies test earns you a student success indicator. If you meet your growth target on WEDA which is the e proficiency test then you would earn a student success indicator. Uh in 10th grade if you were to pass I am you would earn a student success indicator. So, there's I'm not going to read all of them to you, but there is a a list here of all of the different ways right now that um a student could earn a student success indicator. The number of student success indicators earned are what's going to go into the calculation and we're going to show an example of that in just a moment. Okay. So, some special notes before we go into a fourth grade example. Um, in third grade there are
050specific student success indicators identified. Um, and so in all the other grade bands it will be you earn one, two or three student success indicators helps determine your number of points. In third grade I read is specifically named um as an indicator that determines how many points you earn. I told you that I would talk about eligible versus eligible performance only. In fourth through 8th grade, there are two different scales. I'm going to show you a scale in a second. There are two different ones for fourth through 8th grade. One is that if students have growth data, so they took the test in fifth grade and they took the test in sixth grade, then they would be eligible. If they moved into Indiana in sixth grade, they don't have growth data, right? So they would
051be eligible performance only. So it takes less student success indicators to earn the same number of points in the model because they are not eligible for the growth indicators. Okay? So it's a slightly different scale. It's basically a scale reduced by one. And then 12th grade as I mentioned has a different calculation for cohorts through 29 and then cohort 30. um the the current diploma uh structure goes away and it's just the new seals that are being introduced. Uh and then finally in this model across all grade level bands assessment participation rates factor in if a school is below 95% participation on an assessment. So we are are required to give um iLearn or SAT or all those state required assessments to 95% of our students at least if a school goes under that threshold
052then you would take their point total calculated and multiply it by a factor of that. Okay. And in 12th grade the current language also does that if the graduation rate is below 90%. Okay, so let's look at an example of how we'd be calculating points. So this is fourth grade ELA. In grades 4 through 8, you do the ELA calculation or excuse me, grades 3 through 8, you do the ELA calculation, the math calculation, you combine them together and divide by two. So here is the ELA example. Um, so let's say that I'm a student. Remember that I learn is the academic mastery metric for grade four. Let's say I'm a fourth grade student who was approaching expectations on iLearn, but I earned two student success indicators. So that list you have in front of
053you of the student success indicators, I achieved two of those. I would be generating 85 points for my school. Okay? If I were below expectations and earned three student success indicators, I would be generating 75 points for my school. And so, um, you know, this is on a traditional 90 80 70 60 scale, right? So, you can think of that 75 points like a C, right? Um, and so you can see that the that initial academic mastery bucket essentially defines a floor and ceiling for you, right? So if I'm approaching expectations that I learn, the least number of points I'm going to earn is 45. That's my floor. The highest number of points I can earn is 95, right? Whereas if I'm below expectation, the least is still the least is actually zero in that
054case. But the highest I can earn is 75. Right? And so the first metric, the academic mastery metric gives you basically a floor and a ceiling for the number of points and then the number of student success indicators determines from there how many points you generate. Um and so the state has laid out how we calculate this for third grade through the four through eight band for the 9 through 10 band and for the 11 12 band. They have not explicitly in their rule laid out how that final school grade is calculated. The educated guess is that it's all of the students in the school combined and divided. Um but I just want to name for you that that is not in the 34 page rule that they released on this. And so, um, that's
055why you don't see me showing you how that's calculated because I don't want to show you something that's an educated guess at this point. Okay. Um, and so this is an example and um, of how those points are generated. So, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you guys might have. >> Commissioner K. Will this be calculated the same way that a test score regularly is calculated if a student moves schools? Is it just based on count day or based on when they were tested? >> Great question. So in the current way um accountability works. So for iLearn when I come to you and present out I learn results or I read results that that is based on location tested the current draft of this model um has language around 162 days. So what
056that would mean is that students are not generating points for a school. They're not in the calculation unless they were with us for at least 162 days. that is an old federal that we that used to be how everything was calculated a long time ago and then we moved away from that. Uh the federal government uh if as federal report cards are generated they still use 162. Um but uh so this would be a move back to that idea of 162 and that's our shortand we just say 162 but what it means is that student is enrolled with you for at least 162 days. >> My apologies my question might not be clear so I might just have to follow up just because this is a lot. >> It is a lot. I had um
057was just nosy and I attended one of the hearings that the idea would be we held just to just to listen and just to see if I could better understand and I walked away better understanding. So I'm I'm glad that you are here to help us. Um what I did notice is that there were um a few of our IPS innovation partners there to testify on behalf and one that I noticed was our partners um Bradley M. and they brought to my attention um that there was uh some tension between the language acquisition let me do my best to see if I can read my notes and again I will I will follow up if none of this is is clear um the current model it didn't recognize um it didn't recognize uh something specific
058within the language acquisition and the essentially within the third grade um the uh I read scores um and how our students who are passing or working toward passing the WEA exams there was an in there was some tension between the growth and the proficiency. >> Yeah. So any >> some of it is making some sense I would say if we can maybe offline um you know follow up with in Los and make sure we're capturing exactly what the concern is. Right. Well, I think that what they might be speaking to is I uh told you all that in third grade there are um in a specific student success indicators, the biggest one of those is passing I read. Um and so students who are just entering the country and just developing their language proficiency, I
059read is a very challenging test, right? Um if you imagine you're just if you moved to a new country you didn't speak the language you had to pass a basic reading test that would be challenging right and so um the the WEDA scores the English language proficiency scores if students are exiting out of the program which would not be the case with the students we're talking about here but if they make their uh growth targets each year they would earn a student success indicator but they still if they're not passing I read that would shift their initial bucket, right? Like it would shift their not their initial bucket because their initial bucket is based on I learn I apologize, but it would shift the number of success indicators they could possibly earn because that I
060read is such a challenge for them. That's what I'm guessing [clears throat] is the concern. Um, and I know that the state has heard feedback a lot around the iate piece of this. Um uh and then I also thank you for that question because that reminds me to tell you the second piece of paper I gave you is a QR code. The state's feedback um window is open through January 5th. So as you dig into this model and as you follow up with more questions, anyone can submit feedback to the state about their questions and concerns with the model. So I'd encourage you all to do that. um if you have the activated to the state. >> Thank you for helping putting those puzzle pieces together because I didn't have a chance to follow up
061in that in that meeting. And you know, when when I hear some of our our leaders within our districts have concerns, especially with our students who are English language learners, I I wanted to make sure that that we were that we were identifying what those concerns might be in the model that was going to specifically, you know, affect our our students and our leaders, especially excellence. So, I wanted to make sure we were aligned in their concerns. >> And as you follow up with them, if I didn't get that quite right, let me know and and we can talk through it more. >> Thank you. >> Um I have one question. As we go through this process with the um accountability system, are we um creating kind of a mock um mockup of where our
062schools will land within the district? >> So >> once we have the final rule, we'll be able to sort of say, okay, if this were applied to last year, where would you be? uh we want to get the final the final rule so we're doing it based on what we know the actual life will be. Yeah, it is a bit of a moving >> and I will also just add to that Dr. adjustment I made. um that uh there are a couple of these measures specifically the WEDA growth measure and the um the iLearn growth measure that schools are reliant upon the state to give us that data and that data does not come it does not come when I present I learn to you all right it comes this time of year so there
063is a delay and I don't know if the state plans to accelerate that in the future but I just want to name there are some of these data pieces that we don't yet have um and so that makes calculation but once we have the data and we know the rules of the road yes we are working toward that. I have a a quick question just wondering if this has come up because when you said the 162 days that kind of brought back some trauma that I've seen um school leaders experience over the years in IPS um because with the 162 especially for high mobility schools um that are serving a lot of our homeless um and houseless community um that is a big deal. um if a um you know family is in you know
064a space five different spaces over the entire school year, who does that count towards? You know, what does that look like? Have they considered those things? I'm wondering if that's come up because um you know I was kind of you know I know it's like never a real rhyme behind a reason about why but um that 162 I've seen some of our most vulnerable schools really be in a bad position when they've actually had a student starting like I literally saw students starting on the same day as I learn and his family had just lost their home the day before. So what that looks like um are they considering those things or is that something I should go ahead and just do this QR code and make sure I >> I would always encourage you
065to do the QR code and submit it. And I will say um I have not asked that question specifically. I have also not heard uh clarification from the state about that in this model. What I can tell you based on what I know from when we had 162 day before is that if a student was in five different schools, right, and none of them were at least 162 days, that student's data would not attach back to any school. However, if the student was in five different IPS schools, that data would attach back to IPS, >> right? Um, and so there were different layers of that. Um, and I will tell you that, you know, in the model of location tested, um, principles don't always love that because that means a kid moves in to you
066like in March and then you're responsible for all of their data, right? So, there's a a push and pull to this, but I will say um I always encourage to submit to feedback. I do know that the state is looking at this feedback regularly and making adjustment based on the feedback. >> Questions or comments? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you Sean. I know you will be back to [laughter] give us updated version once that is done in the new year. Uh those are the only items for this evening. uh present. Our next schedule meeting is our agenda review session on Tuesday, December 16th at 6 PM in the boardroom of Ed Center. Having completed all items and agenda.