Families & the Community

Ind. Faulted on Ensuring Districts Convey Choice Options

By John Gehring — March 08, 2005 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Indiana state education officials must do a better job making sure school districts provide parents with information about students’ opportunities for tutoring and transfer options out of schools identified as needing improvement, a federal Department of Education audit has found.

The audit, conducted by the Chicago office of the department’s inspector general’s office, found that Indiana has not adequately reviewed how schools are complying with provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that require districts to provide tutoring services and transfer options for students at schools not meeting benchmarks for adequate yearly progress.

Of the six local districts reviewed for the audit, five had inadequate notification letters for parents about options for supplemental education services and school choice options, the audit report says.

Some districts did not notify parents of all students eligible for tutoring. One district failed to inform parents about the choice options through regular mailings. Other districts did not identify schools to which a student could transfer. And another district transferred students from schools identified as in need of improvement to other schools also identified for improvement, a violation of the federal law.

“Because the five local education agencies did not provide sufficient parental notification of school choice, parents were not fully informed about the status of their child’s school and could not make a fully informed decision whether to transfer their children from a school identified for improvement,” the Feb. 18 report says.

Findings Not Disputed

The six districts were selected for the audit based on student enrollment—two large, three medium-size, and one small district—out of 50 in Indiana that had schools identified for improvement during the 2003-04 school year. The districts audited were East Allen County, Gary, Indianapolis, Marion, Muncie, and Whiting.

The Indiana state education department did not dispute the findings of the federal audit.

Linda Miller, the assistant state superintendent, said in a Dec. 22 letter responding to a draft of the audit report that the Indiana department has reviewed the school choice and tutoring requirements with districts during workshops since the draft audit.

The state agency will revise the sample letters to parents that it provides and will create a new data-collection report that will gather school improvement information relevant to school choice and tutoring services.

The Indiana department did not face any federal sanctions based on the audit.

A version of this article appeared in the March 09, 2005 edition of Education Week as Ind. Faulted on Ensuring Districts Convey Choice Options

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Families & the Community How to Go Deeper on Family Engagement
There is a discrepancy in understanding what family engagement is and how it can be utilized to support schools in their COVID recovery efforts, according to a new report.
5 min read
Miranda Scully, Director of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) for Fayette County Public Schools, serves food to students and parents during a ACT prep class held at the Family Connection Center on Dec. 12, 2024, in Lexington, Ky. The Family Connection Center offers programs like ESL classes, college preparation, and household budgeting and money management classes. Family engagement is crucial for COVID recovery, but not all in the education field define it in the same way.
Miranda Scully, director of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) for Fayette County Public Schools, serves food to students and parents during a ACT prep class held at the Family Connection Center on Dec. 12, 2024, in Lexington, Ky. The Family Connection Center offers programs like ESL classes, college preparation, and household budgeting and money management classes.
Michael Swensen for Education Week
Families & the Community The Low-Cost, Low-Lift Way These Districts Used to Reduce Student Absences
Dozens of districts tested this strategy as one component of their absenteeism-fighting strategy.
6 min read
Photograph of the front of a schoo lbus driving on a country road with trees, fencing, and a yellow sign reading School Bus Stop Ahead.
iStock/Getty
Families & the Community ‘Where Are Your Blind Spots?’: How Schools Can Create a Sense of Belonging
District leaders share their advice for creating frameworks to help students feel like they belong in their schools.
3 min read
Ty Harris, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, delivers closing remarks and applauds students for their work during the Power of We event at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center at Old Dominion University in Virginia Beach, Va., on Dec. 18, 2024.
Ty Harris, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, delivers closing remarks and applauds students for their work during the Power of We event at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center at Old Dominion University in Virginia Beach, Va., on Dec. 18, 2024.
Parker Michels-Boyce for Education Week
Families & the Community Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Building Strong School & Home Connections?
Answer 7 questions about building strong family and school connections.