{"id":19868,"date":"2013-08-15T11:58:25","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T15:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=19868"},"modified":"2013-08-15T11:58:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T15:58:25","slug":"tony-bennetts-last-minute-school-grade-changes-benefited-165-indiana-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/08\/15\/tony-bennetts-last-minute-school-grade-changes-benefited-165-indiana-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Bennett’s Last-Minute School Grade Changes Benefited 165 Indiana Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"StateImpact<\/a>

Kyle Stokes \/ StateImpact Indiana<\/p>

StateImpact Indiana found 165 schools benefited from former state superintendent Tony Bennett's changes to the state grading system in 2012.<\/p><\/div>\n

Our colleagues at StateImpact Indiana<\/a> have crunched the numbers and found that 165 schools benefited from changes to the school grading formula<\/a> former Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett made in 2012 while the elected leaders of Hoosier State schools.<\/p>\n

Much of the focus has been on emails between Bennett and staff<\/a> which revealed Bennett’s concern that a prominent charter school had failed to earn an A grade.<\/p>\n

But StateImpact Indiana’s Kyle Stokes found the changes Bennett sought had a much broader effect:<\/p>\n

After studying last year\u2019s A-F rating data, a StateImpact<\/em>\u00a0analysis has identified\u00a0165 schools across the state<\/a> \u2014 including Christel House \u2014 that saw higher final grades than they would have if Bennett\u2019s staff hadn\u2019t tweaked the formula<\/a>\u00a0roughly six weeks before releasing 2012\u2032s results.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s unclear whether what the finding could mean for Bennett\u2019s legacy in Indiana or for the future of the state\u2019s system for issuing performance ratings to schools \u2014 a system\u00a0now undergoing its second re-write<\/a> in as many years.<\/p>\n

Does the finding support the case against Bennett, suggesting\u00a0he manipulated the grading system<\/a>\u00a0to make these changes? Or does it bolster his defense, showing Bennett\u2019s staff made a sincere effort to fix problems with the system<\/a> that extend beyond Christel House\u2019s grade?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

StateImpact Indiana has mapped the affected schools and put together a searchable chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bennett has insisted he did nothing wrong and asked the Indiana Inspector General to investigate<\/a>. Current Indiana state superintendent Glenda Ritz is also investigating and said her agency has found “verified manipulation,”<\/a> but has not released further details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our colleagues at StateImpact Indiana have crunched the numbers and found that 165 schools benefited from changes to the school grading formula former Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett made in 2012 while the elected leaders of Hoosier State schools. Much of the focus has been on emails between Bennett and staff which revealed Bennett’s concern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1106,452],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19871,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19868\/revisions\/19871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}