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滨苍诲颈补苍补鈥檚 is officially on the books, pending a few final signatures.

The State Board of Education on Wednesday voted unanimously to formally adopt the new statewide model, locking in a that state officials said better reflects student progress, literacy and post-graduation readiness.

鈥淭his has been something that has been a long time coming,鈥� said Katie Jenner, 滨苍诲颈补苍补鈥檚 secretary of education. 鈥淢any, many stakeholders around Indiana weighed in.鈥�

after Indiana dismantled its previous accountability framework and rewrote high school graduation requirements. Schools have been without a grading system in the interim while the replacement model was in development.

The rule now heads to state Attorney General Todd Rokita, who has 45 days to sign off, and then to Gov. Mike Braun for final approval.

鈥淭his model values academic outcomes as well as skills and experiences. It鈥檚 so much more than just creating a robot who can memorize things,鈥� said Paul Ketcham, assistant secretary of education. 鈥淚t is a very granular model. Every student will have the opportunity to grow, and it鈥檚 our responsibility to grow them.鈥�

鈥淚n 49 other states, it鈥檚 an accountability rule,鈥� Ketcham said. 鈥淚n Indiana, it鈥檚 a roadmap for schools and students and families to be successful.鈥�

A familiar framework 鈥� with a rebuild

Indiana schools will continue to receive single-letter grades 鈥� A, B, C, D or F 鈥� under the new system, but those grades will now be calculated in a fundamentally different way.

Rather than relying primarily on schoolwide averages and standardized test scores, the new framework assigns points student by student. Jenner and other education officials have described it as a model in which schools earn credit for each individual student based on a combination of academic proficiency, growth and additional 鈥渟uccess indicators鈥� that vary by grade span.

Those student-level scores are averaged within separate grade bands 鈥� elementary, middle and high school 鈥� and combined into one overall A-F grade for each school.

The model was intentionally designed to move beyond an 鈥渁ll-or-nothing鈥� approach and incorporate multiple measures while keeping academic mastery central, particularly reading and math in the early grades, according to a .

鈥淣o longer does an indicator encourage schools to dismiss certain students that might be way behind,鈥� said Ron Sandlin, senior director of school performance and transformation for the Indiana Department of Education. 鈥淲e fundamentally flipped the paradigm. Every student in a school generates points.鈥�

At the high school level, the model more directly ties accountability to 滨苍诲颈补苍补鈥檚 newly redesigned diplomas and diploma seals.

Graduation rate and SAT performance each make up 10% of a school鈥檚 grade-12 score, alongside measures tied to coursework, credentials, work-based learning and student engagement.

鈥淲hat we鈥檝e tried to do is understand the student in their entirety,鈥� Jenner said. 鈥淪o that they don鈥檛 get washed in simple numerator-denominator math that we鈥檝e been doing for so long.鈥�

Multiple education groups and other board members additionally voiced support during Wednesday鈥檚 meeting.

鈥淭his framework gives teachers the tools to celebrate and support success beyond a single test score,鈥� said Rachel Hathaway, Indiana executive director at Teach Plus, a national nonprofit focused on education policy. 鈥淎ccountability should not be about labeling schools. It should be about improving them.鈥�

Todd Bess with the Indiana Association of School Principals emphasized that the new model 鈥減rioritizes student growth alongside proficiency.鈥�

鈥淚t recognizes the progress schools make every day with students at all starting points. Moving up those that are below (proficiency). Those that are just about there 鈥� and then obviously, those that are still wildly proficient 鈥� keep moving them, too, and finding those success indicators,鈥� Bess said. 鈥淔amilies and communities can better understand school performance 鈥� and what I like is we can say we鈥檙e going to add these things up. Every kid matters, and here鈥檚 the greatest outcome.鈥�

A transition year before grades 鈥榗ount鈥�

The new accountability system will roll out through a transition period Sandlin tagged 鈥淵ear Zero,鈥� which applies to the 2025-26 school year.

Letter grades for the current academic year will be calculated and publicly released under the new model, but they will be informational only and will not trigger any timelines or consequences tied to 滨苍诲颈补苍补鈥檚 accountability laws.

Sandlin said that the goal is to give schools and communities time to understand the new calculations and respond before the grades formally carry weight. Year Zero, he said, is intended to 鈥渟et a clear baseline鈥� and provide families and schools with transparent information about where performance stands under the new system.

IDOE plans to begin sharing detailed performance data with schools later this year, followed by the public release of Year Zero grades.

鈥淭his is different than any past A-F years,鈥� Sandlin said.

As part of the transition, the grading scale will also be temporarily adjusted. For Year Zero, an A grade will span 85 to 100, rather than the traditional 90 to 100 range.

Starting with the 2026-27 school year, letter grades will once again count for accountability purposes. At that point, the cutoff for an A will gradually increase over time, rising by 2.5 points in any year when at least 25% of schools earn an A, until it reaches a final target of 90 to 100.

State officials said the approach is intended to allow an initial transition period while steadily increasing rigor as schools improve under the new model.

Wednesday鈥檚 vote followed months of revisions and public feedback led by IDOE, as well as parallel negotiations with federal education officials over 滨苍诲颈补苍补鈥檚 accountability obligations.

Jenner said the 鈥� which would give Indiana added flexibility in how it aligns accountability and funding 鈥� to avoid locking in a model that was still being revised.

The seeks permission from the federal government to overhaul how Indiana spends and tracks billions of dollars in education aid 鈥� a request that Hoosier officials said would align the state鈥檚 accountability system with federal law and allow more freedom in how schools use their funds.

Hoosiers officials specifically requested exemptions from multiple provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, the federal law governing K-12 education, plus permission to combine funding from more than 15 federal education programs into a single 鈥渟trategic block grant.鈥�

The U.S. Department of Education has 120 days to review and respond to waiver applications once they鈥檙e received. 滨苍诲颈补苍补鈥檚 was submitted in October, but the pause extends that timeline.

鈥淲e intentionally paused our federal waiver process as we were working through the final touches in our accountability model 鈥�.  in order to get this at the best place,鈥� Jenner said. 鈥淲e will unpause our waiver timeline shortly.鈥�

鈥淭he fact that we鈥檙e doing this accountability work simultaneously as we鈥檙e working on our waiver has been a huge advantage to Indiana,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n addition to stakeholders in Indiana pushing us on some things, (federal officials) have also pushed us on some things. 鈥� A lot of people think policy work is threading the needle. We鈥檝e had, like, multiple pieces of yarn.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: [email protected].

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