An Indiana bill on the move seeks to return a statewide letter grade system used to evaluate school performance. Photo from Getty Images.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — After a multi-year hiatus, A-F grades are likely to be used again to measure the quality of Indiana’s schools.

The return to a statewide letter grade system is outlined in Republican Rep. Bob Behning’s House Bill 1498, which unanimously passed out of the House Education Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 29. The bill now heads to the full chamber for further review.

Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis Photo from Indiana House Republicans.

Behning’s proposal would strip back much of the previous accountability framework and task Indiana’s State Board of Education with building a new A-F rule — that looks beyond just academic performance and graduation rates — by the end of 2025.

If approved, that means a new round of grades would be assigned to Hoosier schools around the start of the 2026-27 academic year.

School grades have been effectively suspended since 2018, when Indiana shifted from ISTEP to a new state standardized test and later grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Behning, who chairs the House Education Committee, said his bill seeks to put the state education board’s recently unveiled accountability draft — or something like it — into action.

An Updated Grading System

Indiana’s current grading system measures schools in just two groups. Elementary and middle schools (grades 3-8) are evaluated only by students’ academic performance and growth on the statewide ILEARN exam. High schools (grades 9-12) are judged by SAT scores, graduation rates and college and career readiness benchmarks.

Jenner described the state board’s intention to add IREAD scores, as well as rates for literacy, student attendance and chronic absenteeism to the third grade rubric. Students’ proficiency in ELA and math, plus attendance data and amounts of advanced coursework taken would additionally be considered for those in grades 4-8.

The education secretary recommended other add-on criteria for assessing students in grade 10 and onward that would be paired with the state’s new diploma model, like attainment of new diploma seals and work-based learning credentials.

Included in the bill are specific guidelines for measuring school performance.

Although the state board is responsible for hammering out the particulars, the bill does require the new system’s methodology to be based on data from the state education department’s existing GPS dashboard and proficiency rates from state assessments; prioritize students earning new diploma seals; and include a high school “on-track to graduate” indicator.

The latest draft of the bill further stipulates that standardized test performance should be the “primary means” of assessing students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Jenner said high schools “would not necessarily” be graded in the same way,  “because we’re leaning into the diploma seals and some other options there.”

The board is otherwise allowed to add other “relevant” factors at its discretion, according to the legislation.

The letter-grade system for Indiana schools rolled out in 2011, replacing descriptive ratings like “exemplary” and “academic watch.” State officials updated the formula again in 2014 to prioritize students’ academic progress, rather than examining how their test score gains compared to their peers. The grades were previously used as a basis for the state to take over underperforming public schools. Indiana lawmakers abolished such takeovers in 2021.

Letter Grades, Or Something Else?

Still, Indianapolis Democrat Rep. Ed DeLaney pushed for a model that abandons A-F altogether and instead adopts an alternative system with only two ratings: schools that need intervention, and schools that don’t.

Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

DeLaney’s proposed amendment failed in committee along party lines, but Behning said the suggestion to go beyond a single A-F grade “is something that I would entertain” as the legislative process continues.

John Elcesser, executive director of the Indiana Non-Public Education Association, additionally held that a new accountability structure should provide “a fuller look at how schools are performing, overall” — which might require a departure from the A-F system used previously.

“I’ve never been a proponent of a single letter grade. Just as students aren’t a single letter grade, neither are schools,” Elcesser said. “I think for the sake of simplicity, we go with a single letter grade, but sometimes we lose out on the accuracy of really reflecting the full school.”

Behning pushed back, however.

“I would reflect that you are probably right; your son or child is not one letter grade, but they do have a GPA,” the representative told Elcesser during public testimony.

Joel Hand with the Indiana Coalition for Public Education and the American Federation of Teachers of Indiana also took issue with the A-F system and preferred a model like the one DeLaney proposed.

“I think our big concerns, really, are making sure that we are reflecting scores that are accurate, not just based upon socioeconomic status,” Hand said. “What we see time and again when we’re labeling schools as “D” schools or “F” schools … those children typically have not had sufficient access to quality pre-kindergarten programs. They have not had access to the types of learning environments and opportunities that children from more affluent homes might receive. We would like for there to be multiple different standards by which students are going to be judged.”

Multiple other education groups spoke in favor of the bill, as did a handful of parents, most of whom cited desires for a more robust system for accessing information about schools.