Caroline Beck

Indiana schools will again receive A-F grades, but how they will be measured undecided Indiana will resume A-F school grades, aiming for clarity, but parents worry it oversimplifies performance and harms low-income districts.

Indiana is about to bring back letter grades for schools after being on a seven-year hiatus. But first, they have to come up with the methodology for grading. More on that and what parents think about the grades coming back:
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

Updates to Indiana's new diploma seals offer auto acceptance to state colleges State leaders announced that certain high school graduates could see an easier path to state universities in the coming years related to the new state diplomas.

Indiana high school graduates under the new diploma could see automatic accpetance to the state's public universities. More details here:
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

Don't cheer, Gov. Ivey: Killing the Department of Education will hurt Alabama students • Alabama Reflector Gov. Kay Ivey is a sure-footed politician. She’s walked the narrow and dangerous path of Alabama politics all the way to summit. It requires focus, dedication and balancing performative apathy and win...

Important history lesson here, friends.

Alabama's past leaders were not champions of educating ALL children to help them reach their potential. The feds provided a guardrail - which could disappear.

alabamareflector.com/2025/03/17/d...

Trump wants to dismantle the Education Dept. Here's what that means for Indiana schools Indiana receives millions of federal dollars to support schools, but President Trump's desire to dismantle the federal agency puts that funding into question.

Politico just reported that Indiana Gov. Mike Braun will be in attendance to President Trump’s exec order signing this afternoon. We heard last week that Bruan approves of Trump’s move to dismantle the Education Department.
More on that here:
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

Linda McMahon didn’t need a Trump executive order to make big Education Department layoffs The layoffs, combined with recent staff buyouts, mean that the number of Education Department staff has dropped by nearly 50% in the last two weeks. President Donald Trump has expressed a desire to cl...

A former Education Department staffer, who spoke with Chalkbeat on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information, said the entire Office for Civil Rights team based in Philadelphia that employed 30 staffers was let go. www.chalkbeat.org/2025/03/11/e...

I was just informed that the Department of Education has taken down all its Civil Rights data. If you need it, alternative sites are now hosting it for the public. See links in this thread. ocrdata.ed.gov/notfound

Hundreds of open Indiana school civil rights investigations halted under new Trump policy Some of the 266 open civil rights investigations into Indiana's schools could lay dormant for years under a new Trump administration policy.

165 open Indiana school civil rights investigations involving accusations of things other than disability discrimination could go untouched for months, if not years, under Trump's new OCR administration.
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

IPS won't allow ICE to enter schools without a warrant. Here's what other districts said. Under a new federal policy pushed by the Trump administration, schools will no longer be considered "protected" areas from ICE.

As we're learning more about how schools are responding to the latest Trump orders around ICE and schools, here is what Indiana's largest school district is saying:
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

Proposed Indiana bill would dissolve the IPS district and turn all schools into charters HB 1136, from Rep. Jake Teshka, could potentially require IPS and four other school districts to transition to entirely being charter schools.

This proposed bill would also dissolve four other traditional school districts in Indiana, impacting a total of 68 schools. IPS, would be the hardest hit district out of all of them, forcing their 50 district-run schools to turn over to charters.
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

State board approves final diploma redesign, new requirements boost work-based learning The Indiana State Board approved a final version of the new Indiana high school diploma which will be required for the class of 2029.

BREAKING: Indiana's state board of ed approved new graduation requirements today. They heavily emphasize work-based learning and promote flexibility for students with the hopes of reversing student apathy increasingly seen in high schoolers. www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

Katie Jenner will continue to head the state's education department under Braun Katie Jenner, who is the state's first appointed secretary of education, will continue in her role under governor-elect Mike Braun.

Not a big shocker here, but today Mike Braun's transition team announced that Katie Jenner will get to keep her job as Indiana's top education official.
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

Herman Whitfield III's mother told police she was concerned officers would kill son The family of an Indianapolis man who died after being handcuffed and restrained by police say unedited video counters the police narrative.

Sharing my story from January 2023 on the police unedited Whitfield's family released after obtaining it through a court order. www.indystar.com/story/news/c...

Trial underway for two IMPD officers accused of killing man in 2022 Herman Whitfield III died after being restrained face down and naked in April 2022. Officers Steven Sanchez and Adam Ahmad were indicted in his death.

Trial underway for two IMPD officers accused of killing man in 2022

www.indystar.com/story/news/c...

The FAFSA is now open to all Indiana students. Here's how to get help filling it out. Indiana high schoolers have to file the FAFSA in order to graduate, but good news is that the form isn't running into as many problems this year.

Indiana students must file the FAFSA in order to graduate, with a few exceptions, and school officials who work with IPS say they haven't run into too many problems this year. Here's what students need to know about filing it and where to get help:
www.indystar.com/story/news/e...