Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Spring Membership Drive


Donate now to support local news and music on WBOI

Pence Does Not Support Plan to Freeze A-F Grades for Schools

After announcing Indiana’s students will take a new standardized test this spring  that matches the state’s new standards, state superintendent Glenda Ritz suggested the state  should suspend A-F grades for schools because most students will perform poorly on the new  test.  

Governor Mike Pence says he will not  support that plan. 

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released Friday, Pence said the state will  not freeze accountability like Ritz suggested.  He wrote “we are confident that our state can implement the more rigorous standards while  also accounting for any temporary impact on testing scores in a way that does not unfairly  affect students, teachers and schools.”  

Pence, Ritz and members of the Indiana Department of Education are working with federal  education officials to keep the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver. One of the conditions to  keep the waiver is having an assessment that matches academic standards used by the state,  which is why students will see a new test next spring.  

The DOE will submit proof of this matching assessment to the feds by June 30.