IDOE Gathering Stakeholder Feedback, Focusing on Highlighting Achievement Gaps
Wednesday, February 09, 2022
Holly Lawson
Deputy Director of Communications
(317) 232-0536
hlawson2@doe.in.gov
INDIANAPOLIS - At today’s State Board of Education (SBOE) meeting, the Indiana Department of Education provided an update on development of the Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed (Indiana GPS) dashboard. This included an update on how data could be used to show performance of student populations across a range of measures.
“We know that the pandemic’s academic disruptions disproportionately impacted many of our students who were already struggling to master foundational skills,” said Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education. “As we develop the Indiana GPS dashboard, we will continue working with stakeholders to ensure each indicator is accessible and useful. This includes functionality that empowers users to dive in to learn more about how student populations have been impacted by learning disruptions and how they are recovering. Transparency will help drive continuous improvement for our students.”
By allowing users to view data disaggregated by student population across multiple indicators, the Indiana GPS dashboard will allow stakeholders to view where students are today – and work towards helping students gain support where they need it the most. For example, as just one data point, last spring’s ILEARN results show that achievement gaps persist among Indiana’s racially and ethnically diverse, low-income, special education and English language learner students – gaps that were exacerbated by the pandemic.
As IDOE works to have the initial version of the dashboard operational this fall, the department is engaging school leaders, teachers, families and community members to gain feedback on how data is displayed – making it accessible across a variety of indicators. This information will be presented on landing pages, school summary pages and informational pages that display trends and data comparisons.
Dashboard development follows the SBOE’s unanimous approval last year of five characteristics that best indicate a student’s preparation for success after high school, as well as the indicators that will measure these characteristics. These characteristics and indicators will be the basis for the dashboard. More information about the Indiana GPS school performance dashboard is available here.