Indiana gains federal approval to maintain No Child Left Behind waiver

The state received an extension of its waiver through the end of the 2014-15 school year. With the waiver, Indiana will maintain flexibility on how it spends a portion of more than $230 million in federal “Title 1” funds it receives annually to help disadvantaged children. The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corp. uses $1 million of those dollars to fund its prekindergarten program.

In May, the U.S. Department of Education placed conditions on Indiana’s waiver and said the state would need to address those concerns for an extension to be approved. In a letter to the Indiana Department of Education on Thursday, federal education officials said those conditions were lifted, but the state would need to continue to work on teacher and principal evaluations.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz said her department is working with the approximately 40 school corporations state law requires to start adhering to Indiana’s educator evaluation system once current collective bargaining agreements expire.

Following the announcement, Ritz said she was “incredibly pleased” federal education officials approved the state’s waiver. Ritz said the most important aspect of the waiver is the benefit it gives to children.

“It allows schools to actually utilize part of their ‘Title 1’ dollars to implement instructional services for students,” Ritz said. “We’re talking remediation. We’re talking intervention. We’re talking instructional coaches. We’re talking personnel that assist children on a one-to-one basis.”

States were given the ability to apply for flexibility from the federal education accountability law to free up “Title 1” money in exchange for adopting reforms, such as academic standards that promote college and career readiness. Without the waiver, Indiana also would have to meet certain accountability measures of the federal law, such as all students performing at grade level in math and English by this year.

To continue receiving a waiver, the state had to show plans to implement the new learning guidelines adopted in April for Indiana schools that replaced the national Common Core State Standards. Ritz said the state also had to move up a standardized test aligned to those standards to spring 2015 — a year ahead of schedule.

The state also had to show turnaround strategies were in place for academically-struggling schools. The monitoring report on how the state was meeting the terms of its No Child Left Behind waiver came from a visit to Indiana by federal education officials in August, when the department’s Division of Outreach was just beginning.

In Thursday’s letter, federal education officials applauded Ritz’s outreach division.

“This division works proactively with schools at the grassroots level to support educators, while monitoring, developing and strengthening school improvement to ensure that school improvement efforts in Indiana are intentionally aligned to the federal turnaround principles,” Deborah Delisle, assistant secretary for elementary and secretary education at the U.S. Department of Education, wrote in the letter.

The waiver has been a source of contention between Ritz and the Indiana State Board of Education, whose members have all been appointed by Republican governors. Indiana first received its waiver in 2012 under Ritz’s predecessor, Tony Bennett. An education agency created by Gov. Mike Pence, the Center for Education and Career Innovation, separately sent feedback to the federal government on Indiana’s waiver submission.

Yet on Thursday, Pence and Republican legislative leaders heralded the announcement.

“We look forward to pursuing our objective of making Indiana’s education system one of the strongest in the nation while preparing our students to compete in a globally dynamic economy,” Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma said in a prepared statement.

Pence congratulated Ritz, along with the Indiana State Board of Education and the Indiana Education Roundtable, on the waiver extension.

“The approval of Indiana’s waiver request is great news for Indiana students and schools. It gives us the ability to maintain local control of how federal education dollars are invested and to maintain the use of Indiana’s A-F school accountability system. The waiver also allows school districts and teachers to educate students in a manner determined by Hoosier educators and families in their local communities,” Pence said in a statement.

As it currently stands, student scores from this year’s revised ISTEP will factor into school A-F grades and teacher evaluations. The Indiana State Teachers Association is asking Pence to lead efforts for a temporary moratorium on test scores being reflected in the state’s accountability system, as students take a standardized test based on the new academic standards for the first time. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said last week that states have the ability to apply for that flexibility, and Ritz said she would renew that discussion with state leaders.