Indiana State Board of Education finalizes student focus of new performance dashboard

Indiana education officials took the next step to revamp school accountability this week.

The State Board of Education approved a list of student characteristics for the state to track as part of a new school performance dashboard it’s developing.

Board members finalized a total of five knowledge and skill areas the dashboard will focus on: academic mastery; career and postsecondary experiences and credentials; collaboration and communication skills; work ethic; and digital, financial and civic literacy.

Now the state has to figure out what kind of data can measure those and should be used to help evaluate school performance.

Indiana Department of Education school performance and transformation director Ron Sandlin said the goal isn’t to minimize the importance of academic progress.

“We are just elevating the importance of these complementary skill sets that we hear are valued outside of our K-12 system,” he said.

The state will seek public input on how to measure the traits, including through an online form.

The board plans to discuss the proposed measures at its meeting next month.

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Contact reporter Jeanie at jlindsa@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @jeanjeanielindz.