Eastern Pulaski learns about new A-F school accountability system

Earlier this year, the Indiana State Board of Education voted in favor of adopting a new statewide accountability model, implementing a new A-F grading system for each school. Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation Superintendent Dara Chezem explained the details of the new system to the school board during a regular meeting on Monday, April 27. School districts in Indiana have not received letter grades since 2018. The old model relied heavily on standardized test scores, but the new model looks more closely at individual student performance in attendance, diploma seals, college credits, career technical education, standardized testing and several other factors. Grade levels are separated into bands: K-3; 4-8; 9 and 10; and 11 and 12. A letter grade for the school is then assigned by averaging all student points earned. Superintendent Chezem said that the state's goal with this new program is twofold: make it more transparent so parents and teachers understand what students are being scored on; and have scoring be very data driven and individualized to the student.