Steve Hinnefeld on Board of Education’s “Accountability” Framework

Check out Steve Hinnefeld’s post on the State Board of Education’s accountability framework recommendations. A couple of quick thoughts:

1. Board staff says that the recommendations aren’t set in stone. So they’re almost certainly set in stone.
2. Steve notes that the recommendations use the term “Hoosier values” six times in a 14 page document. In the context of noting the conflict between the State “A-F” framework and the federal government’s Every Student Succeeds Act, the recommendations say, ““Indiana should design a state accountability system that prioritizes Hoosier values and strive to use the same indicators for the state and federal models as is allowable under law.” I might be wrong, but I’m getting a “Common Core” vibe here. Indiana abandoned Common Core out of a reflexive anti-Obama sentiment then rebuilt its own system for reasons.
3. We could ditch the whole A-F machinery and just rank schools by median income in their districts. There wouldn’t be a big change in the rankings.