Ethnic studies will not be a graduation requirement — yet – -in California, reports Elizabeth Castillo on CALMatters. Citing the estimated $400 million cost, sponsors of a bill to require ethnic studies for high school graduation agreed to a pilot program instead. Ten to 15 school districts will opt in to requiring a semester of ethnic studies as early as 2022. Photo: Matt York/Associated Press A 2016 law “already encourages high schools to offer an elective course in ethnic

Student can take “financial Algebra 2” instead of the regular course in Noblesville, Indiana, reports Shaina Cavazos on Chalkbeat. The class, which is focused on “real-world problem solving,” meets state Algebra 2 standards, but is easier to pass, writes Cavazos. In hopes of preparing all students for college, Indiana has required Algebra 2 since 2007. Indeed, across the nation, states have stepped up math requirements to include Algebra 2. But in several cases, they quickly

“Free college” programs should include tuition-free apprenticeships, writes New America’s Iris Palmer. Arkansas, Kentucky, and Indiana try to predict “what kind of employees the labor market is going to need,” she writes. Arkansas’ ArFuture program supports certificate and associate’s degrees that are either related to science, technology, engineering, and math or address identified regional areas of high need. Kentucky’s Work Ready Scholarship program pays for a number of in

Graduation rates have been increasing across the country, but many states will have to report lower graduation rates under the new federal education law, reports Catherine Gewertz in Ed Week. Indiana’s 89 percent graduation rate could fall to 76 percent, because Indiana offers an easier “general” diploma with lower requirements to students who can’t handle college-prep courses. The goal was “to drive states to make sure that diplomas were really preparing students for success

Vouchers have failed, editorialized the New York Times in March, citing “dismal” results in Louisiana and Indiana on the first year of the programs. Updated research shows a different story, reports Elliot Kaufman in National Review. “After just a few years, voucher students perform as well or better than their non-voucher peers while using significantly less public funding,” says Jason Bedrick, director of policy at EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates free choice in educati

Church-affiliated schools — and the parents who value a religious education — are big winners in Indiana’s voucher program, writes Cory Turner on NPR. Since 2011, the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program has funded private-school tuition for  low-income students. Most choose religious schools. Behind a statue of Jesus are the offices of Fort Wayne Community Schools. Photo: Acacia Squires/NPR In 2013, under then Gov. Mike Pence, legislators authorized vouchers for children who’d

Indiana’s private schools now “live or die by test scores,” reports Dylan Peers McCoy for Chalkbeat. If schools don’t score well enough to be redeem parents’ vouchers, they risk folding. Central Christian Academy in Indianapolis boosted its enrollment when vouchers enabled students from low-income families to enroll. But test scores were low. The school earned two D’s in a row,  lost eligibility for vouchers and nearly closed. Then Indiana began giving credit for improvement.

As Indiana schools face a teacher shortage, many would-be teachers are failing state exams required for their teaching license, reports WTHR Indianapolis. The CORE teacher assessment tests,  administered by Pearson Education, replaced the Praxis II teacher exams three years ago. During the 2015-2016 academic year, only 36% of prospective English teachers passed the CORE middle school English language arts exam. A dismal 32% of would-be Indiana math teachers passed the CORE mi

New America’s Kevin Carey lamented “dismal voucher results” in the New York Times, which followed with an editorial calling choice an academic “failure.” However, “the vast majority of random-assignment studies of private school voucher programs — the “gold-standard” research method that even controls for unobserved factors like parental motivation have found choice producing equivalent or superior academic results, usually for a fraction of what is spent on public schools,”