The Indiana Department of Education released school accountability grades for 2016-17 on Wednesday.
In Lake County, high schools including Lake Central, Lowell, Crown Point, Munster and Whiting received an A-rating from the state. Hanover Central, River Forest, Merrillville, Griffith, Highland, Hobart and Edison High School in Lake Station received a B.
High schools at Calumet New Tech, Clark, Gavit, Hammond High, and Morton received a C. Ten Lake County public schools — five elementary and five middle schools — received a D.
At River Forest, its high school improved to a B from C last year. Meister Elementary improved to a C from an F in 2015-16. Evans Elementary and River Forest Middle School both received a D-rating this year.
Last spring, the district put in place a three-to-five year improvement plan, said River Forest Assistant Superintendent Kevin Trezak.
“We are working with consultants and the school board is behind of 100 percent on that,” he said. “We have to celebrate (improvements), but we have a lot of work that we are moving forward.”
In 2016-17, four Lake County elementary schools received an F: Carrie Gosch Elementary and McKinley Elementary in East Chicago; and Lew Wallace Elementary and Irving Elementary in Hammond. Carrie Gosch was converted to a pre-K center earlier this summer.
Overall, 29 of 97 Lake County schools received an A, 32 received a B, 22 received a C, 10 received a D and four received an F.
Among Porter County high schools, Chesterton, Morgan Township, Washington Township, Boone Grove, Wheeler and Valparaiso High Schools received an A. Hebron, Kouts and Portage received a B. No Porter County high school received a C or lower.
Overall in Porter County, 20 of 48 schools received an A, 18 received a B-rating, 10 received a C. No schools received a D or F.
Last year in 2015-16, the state changed its method of accountability ratings to a combination of state test performance and improvement measures. It also added graduation rates, college/career readiness and percentage of students passing a dual-credit class, AP course or other certification for high schools. Previously, accountability grades were more heavily weighted by state assessment scores.
In 2016-17, 12 of 20 Gary Diocese schools received A-ratings including all three high schools: Andrean, Bishop Noll Institute and Marquette Catholic High School in Michigan City. Six schools received a B-rating; Saint Casimir School in Hammond received a C. St. John Bosco School in Hammond dropped to a D-rating.
Director of Schools Joseph Majchrowicz said the diocese will begin to implement a comprehensive data-driven monitoring program to better identify student academic strengths and weaknesses at all its schools.
At charter schools, Hammond Academy of Science and Technology, LaPorte’s Renaissance Academy Charter School and Chesterton’s Discovery Charter School all received B-ratings.
Gary Lighthouse Charter School and Steel City Academy received a C. Thea Bowman Leadership Academy, 21st Century Charter School of Gary, East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy received a D. Charter School of the Dunes, Aspire Charter Academy and Neighbors’ New Vista received an F. Heritage Instititute of Arts & Technology in Merrillville was not rated.
The accountability grades of all 12 schools in the Gary Community School Corp. are under appeal or review. Since August, a state-appointed emergency manager has had sole academic and financial control.
In a text, Emergency Manager Peggy Hinckley said IDOE told her on Tuesday each school’s accountabilty grades were still being reviewed and would be embargoed until it was complete. She did not ask for the review, she said.
“I am assuming that questions about GCSC data that have been asked of the IDOE in the past two months may have necessitated further review,” she said.
“Audits and appeals are a common part of this process and they are one of several schools undergoing it. Just to ensure accuracy,” IDOE spokesman Adam Baker said in an email.
He did not have further information as of press deadline.
In East Chicago, three schools — Central High School, Block Middle School and Harrison Elementary — are appealing their grades, according to the state. School officials from East Chicago were not immediately available for comment.
The School City of Hammond’s Jefferson Elementary is appealing its accountability grade. Earlier this year, the state Department of Education and Superintendent Walter Watkins said 19 students there had their I-STEP math scores invalidated after they were mistakenly allowed to use a calculator on a restricted portion of the test.
Charter school Gary Middle College and Calumet Christian School in Griffith are also appealing their grades.
For a full list of Northwest Indiana accountability grades, go to doe.in.gov/accountability/find-school-and-corporation-data-reports.
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