Indianapolis Public Schools sees little A-F change but innovation schools got top grades

Of the nine Indianapolis Public Schools that received A grades from the state, six are innovation schools.

The state letter grades, which were approved Wednesday, are another sign that innovation schools are improving test scores at some of the district’s most chronically low-performing schools. The other three IPS schools that received top marks from the state are magnet schools on the district’s north side.

The innovation schools are part of a controversial new effort to improve education by handing over management to outside partners and giving principals at top-performing schools more freedom. They are managed by outside charter operators or nonprofits but ultimately overseen by the district. The program has been rapidly growing, and 20 percent of IPS students now attend innovation schools.

Nonetheless, Superintendent Lewis Ferebee said “it’s too early to name the innovation model as the panacea for struggling schools.”

The improvement in grades at innovation schools is not altogether surprising. For elementary and middle schools, the grades are based on results of the state ISTEP test, including passing rates and student improvement. The grades for innovation schools are currently being calculated in the same way the state assesses new schools, giving them the option to be graded based only on their student improvement. When test results were released last month, passing rates jumped at graded based only on their student improvement. When test results were released last month, passing rates jumped at several innovation schools.

A neighborhood school near Fountain Square that had the biggest jump in ISTEP passing rates in the district — School 39, also known as William McKinley — went from an F to a B.

Of the eight innovation schools that were graded last year, none received F grades. The news is especially important for schools with repeated F grades. Global Prep at School 44, which improved from an F to an A, would’ve been eligible for state takeover if it received another F this year. Kindezi Academy at School 69, which improved from an F to a D, was eligible for takeover last year because of chronically low grades, but the district had already restarted the school with an innovation partner.

Five years ago, four chronically underperforming schools were severed from the district by the Indiana State Board of Education, which handed over management to charter operators. But it seems increasingly unlikely that any of the district’s schools will face state takeover going forward. Ferebee has a friendly relationship with the state board, and the district has taken steps to intervene in schools before they would face state takeover.

Since the district began creating innovation schools three years ago, IPS has converted several schools to innovation status, at least in part in an effort to fend off takeover.

The only IPS schools that are eligible for state takeover based on the 2017 letter grades are Northwest Jr. High School and John Marshall Middle School. Both schools will face significant changes next year as part of a high school reconfiguration plan. The combined middle-high school at Northwest will be replaced with a dedicated middle school, and Marshall will relocate to the Arlington campus.

Across the district, grades stayed relatively stable. At 33 of the district’s 68 schools, grades were unchanged from last year. Grades improved at 14 schools and went down at 18 schools. Three schools did not have grades for both 2016 and 2017.

“We’ll continue to employ our strategies for transforming our schools that are struggling with student achievement,” Ferebee said. But he added that not everyone is solely focused on test results. “Families who choose those schools often times don’t buy into the letter grade system as the sole measure of progress for a school.”

Find your school’s 2017 grade using our interactive database.

Here is the breakdown of grades across the district: