- 1. 1 Glenda Ritz, state education board clash over waiver by
Eric Weddle, Indy Star June 24, 2014
2. 2 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver
Tensions and disagreements involving Indiana's superintendent of
public instruction, the governor and members of the State Board of
Education returned Monday. During two consecutive meetings on
critical education policy issues, Glenda Ritz was rebuffed by Gov.
Mike Pence and faced strong criticism from board members. Sta r 3.
3 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver The
discontent comes a week before Ritz must file amendments with the
U.S. Department of Education in a bid to maintain Indiana's waiver
from some federal education requirements. Federal monitors have
flagged numerous deficiencies in the state's education reforms and
continue to question the state department's proposed fixes. 4. 4
Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver The meetings
did shed light on how students and teachers will be affected by a
revamped academic achievement exam. Indiana's high-stakes
standardized exam could be changing and expanding to more students
in the next two years in an attempt to help lagging students and
satisfy federal education officials. 5. 5 Glenda Ritz, State
Education Board clash over waiver A board led by Pence and Ritz
recommended that a one-time update to the ISTEP exam be developed
by current vendor CTB/McGraw-Hill and Indiana teachers for spring
2015. The state Education Department would then select a vendor to
develop a future standardized test to be used in 2015-16. Ritz,
though, voted against the recommendation after her attempt to amend
it failed. She wanted to require that reading assessments be part
of the new test design. 6. 6 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board
clash over waiver Pence urged the board not to approve Ritz's
motion. The U.S Department of Education is requiring Indiana to
begin new standardized tests next spring that would be based on the
recently adopted K-12 academic standards that replaced Common Core.
Failure to do so would jeopardize the state's federal waiver from
meeting requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. 7. 7 Glenda
Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver Pence said working
with current vendors for the exam next spring would add consistency
between the new test and the current version. The amount that
CTB/McGraw-Hill would be paid is unknown. CTB/McGraw-Hill
administered ISTEP, also known as Indiana Statewide Testing for
Educational Progress, under a four-year, $95 million contract with
the state Education Department. The contract ends this week but
will be extended. 8. 8 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash
over waiver "A diploma from our high schools should signal that our
graduates are ready for careers or college," Pence said. Currently,
10th-graders take assessments required for graduation. These
assessments could be phased out and become part of ISTEP. 9. 9
Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waive "We are asking
a lot of our teachers over the next two years in regards to rollout
of our new standards, (updating) ISTEP," Pence said. "Therefore, I
think we should make every effort to maintain as much consistency
as we can in redesigning ISTEP for the 2015 and 2016 academic
years." 10. 10 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waive
The State Board of Education will have final say on any ISTEP
changes. The board did not vote on the issue during its meeting
Monday, but members asked whether Ritz and the Department of
Education were prepared to submit amendments by June 30 to extend
Indiana's waiver from No Child Left Behind. 11. 11 Glenda Ritz,
State Education Board clash over waive
Atthestartofthemeeting,memberBradOliver
toldRitzheandotherboardmemberswerenot
providedallmaterialsthestatedepartment
preparedfortheapplication.Oliverattemptedto
addaresolutiontotheagendathatwouldgivethe
boardmoreoversightofthewaiverapplication, butRitzrejectedit. 12. 12
Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver
Oliversaidboardrulesallowedmembersto
appealRitz'sdecision.Lawyersforthe
DepartmentofEductionandCenterforEducation
andCareerInnovation,Pence'seducationoffice
thatassistsboardmembers,disagreedonwhat therulesallowed. 13. 13
Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver
"Brad,Iamtotallycommittedtothiswaiver.Ilive
andbreathethiswaiver,"Ritzsaidatonepoint.
"Youhavealltheinfoyouneedonthiswaiver." Oliverdisagreed.
"Iamconcerned,"hesaidafterthemeeting,about
thepossibilityIndianacouldloseitswaiver."I'llbe
cautiouslyoptimistic." 14. 14 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board
clash over waiver Indianaisoneof42stateswithawaiverfromNo
ChildLeftBehindandwasoneofthefirststates,
inFebruary2012,toreceiveawaiver.States
soughtwaiverstobereleasedfromstringent
federalrequirementsofthe2001law,suchas
passingscoresforallstudents,includingthose
withlearningdisabilities,andtohavemorecontrol
overhowfederalfundsarespentinexchangefor certaintypesofreforms. 15.
15 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver
FormerstateSuperintendentTonyBennett
championedthereforms,suchasadoptionof
teacherevaluationsandCommonCoreacademic
standards,thatwereinstrumentaltothewaiver approval.
Ritzhasbeenleftwithmuchofthe implementationofthereformstosatisfythe
waiver.Bennett,aRepublican,lostre-electionin 2012toRitz,aDemocrat.
16. 16 Glenda Ritz, State Education Board clash over waiver Indiana
is the only state with a condition placed on its waiver as a result
of a monitoring inspection last fall. Federal monitors found
problems with the state Department of Education's ability to help
failing schools, monitor compliance and provide technical
assistance for teacher and principal evaluations, among other
issues. 17. 17 The department also must prove the recently adopted
K-12 academic standards meet federal requirements for preparing
students for college or careers. Also during Monday's meetings,
resource guides about the state's new math and English standards
were approved. These online documents are intended to help
teachers, families and community members understand the standards.
The state Department of Education will release the guides by July
1.
