Statement, verbatim, as issued Friday by Indiana Democrats for Education Reform:
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Democrats for Education Reform State Director Larry Grau issued the following statement in response to the release this morning of an independent review of the A-F statewide school accountability model developed and implemented beginning in 2010:
“Let’s make one thing clear: What happened with respect to these grades is unacceptable. We wouldn’t tolerate a teacher in a classroom changing scores after the fact to get a desired result for a favorite student. We shouldn’t tolerate it in our government.
“This report gives us more insight into how those scores were altered: technical rule changes, loss of key personnel and a preconceived notion that certain schools should have performed better.
“We look forward to working with the Department of Education and key stakeholders to make sure these standards are strengthened and applied fairly in the future.
“But let’s make one more thing clear: Under no circumstances should this report or Superintendent Bennett’s unfortunate choices be used to turn back the clock to a time when schools did not have to be accountable for results, and there were no standards for letting parents and others know exactly how a school was performing, let alone a uniform standard of measurement.
“As fellow Democrats focused on a better education system for our children, we trust that Superintendent Ritz and her staff will use the findings of this report not as a weapon to assault the prior administration, but as a tool for building and implementing a strong accountability system that gives parents across Indiana the data they need to make responsible, reliable choices for their children.”
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