IPS touts recovery from COVID-19 pandemic
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A new report assessed how Indianapolis Public Schools students and schools have recovered after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national report, according to a release from the school district, looks at “academic recover” in K-12 schools. The report, called the Education Recovery Scorecard, was a collaborative effort between an education policy research office at Harvard University and another at Stanford University.
The release said it focused on IPS to “mitigate … pandemic-induced learning setbacks.”
“The pandemic losses in math and reading were close to the state average loss and roughly one third the size of loss experienced in other districts in Indiana with similar poverty levels,” the report’s authors wrote, according to the school district, citing the report’s release.
IPS had done an exceptional job at bouncing back, the district says. Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said in a statement, “Our school district now has a greater share of students at or above pre-pandemic performance in both reading and math, and is the only district in Marion County that can say that.”
The results of the study are “a testament to the talent and dedication of our teachers and staff,” she said in the statement.
IPS used federal COVID-relief funds to help English and math programs, and the district ranked first in four-year growth when ranked against 42 school corporations across the state that had 3,000 or more students take Indiana’s Learning Evaluation and Assessment Readiness Network test, according to the release.
The authors of the report said, according to the release issued by IPS, “No one wants to see poor kids footing the bill for the pandemic, but that is the path Indiana is on. With federal relief dollars drying up, state leaders must ensure the remaining dollars are used for Summer 2024 and for tutoring and after-school next year.”
The superintendent noted that IPS, in collaboration with the before- and after-school program At Your School Inc. and other youth development partners, will launch in the fall the Engage Every Student Indianapolis initiative. The aim will be to provide accessible high-quality before- and after-school programs for IPS students in pre-kindergarten through Grade 5 in what’s being described as a holistic and enriching learning experience.