IPS is determined to become a model urban school district for the nation by 2010 despite the extreme poverty, high mobility and other challenges facing its many students. 

IPS is making progress and generating hope in our community.  A number of initiatives are in place to increase student achievement and graduation rates, including:

• IPS has more magnet and option programs than any other
  school district in Indiana.

• Every May 2009 graduate of George Washington Community High School has been accepted to college.  According to a front-page story published in the Indianapolis Star, 89 percent of those students live in poverty - a fifth of whom are still learning English - with only 5 percent of the adults in their community who have ever attended college.

• Students at the Center for Inquiry at School 2 began studying Mandarin Chinese this year.  Mandarin Chinese is also offered in the International Magnet program at Arsenal Technical High School.

• IPS was among the first school districts statewide to take advantage of the New Tech High School concept, opening a school on the Arsenal Technical High School campus.

• Rousseau McClellan School 91 was named a National Blue Ribbon Award winning school in September 2008.  The Grades K-8 Montessori magnet school was among 320 schools nationwide to receive this honor.

• Students from Thomas Carr Howe Community High School won back-to-back Academic Super Bowl championships (2008 and 2009) in the discipline of science.  Only five schools have won the competition two years in a row.  The Howe team won by successfully answering the question: “What force vector would be exerted on an electron at rest if subjected to a strong magnetic field oriented directly upward?”

• More than 7,500 IPS students in Grades 1-8 earned the honor of attending the “Values 4 Life” celebration May 8 at Conseco Fieldhouse.  To qualify students had to earn and keep four bracelets, indicating they were living the district’s core values of Excellence, Scholarship, Respect and Courage.

• In the Early College Academy at Arsenal Technical High School, students earn college credits from Vincennes University or Ivy Tech Community College while still in high school.  Successful students can earn an associates degree by the end of high school.

• IPS Key Learning  Community Preparatory High School students were ranked number one in the U.S. among high schools for their community service projects.

• On Oct. 30, 2008, Congressman Andre Carson and IPS Superintendent Dr. Eugene G. While announced that George Washington Community School and the Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center will receive a $2.48 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve student achievement. Indianapolis is the only Midwestern city to receive one of the 10 grants.

• IPS has expanded some of its popular magnet programs -- offering the Center for Inquiry and Key Learning Community at additional locations. 

• The new Sidener Academy opened in the fall of 2008 in the Glendale area for high-ability students in Grades 2-5.  It will grow a grade level each year until it serves students in Grades 2-8.
• In the fall of 2009, Broad Ripple High School will be converted into the Broad Ripple High School for the Arts and Humanities, offering students the opportunity to study the focus areas of Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Humanities and Media Communications.

• IPS has implemented an International Baccalaureate diploma program at Northwest High School and offers the Primary Years Programme and the Middle Years Programme at the Center for Inquiry.  IPS is the only district in the state where students can study the challenging International Baccalaureate authorized curriculum at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

• In 2007, IPS implemented a district-wide uniform policy that is aimed at fostering a more serious, disciplined, respectful environment for student learning. 

• Dr. Eugene G. White was named 2009 Indiana Superintendent of the Year by the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents. Dr. White also received this honor in 2001. This is the first time in history anyone has won this honor twice.  He was one of four finalists for the 2009 National Superintendent of the Year Award.

• Science Bound, a program in partnership with Purdue University, is providing IPS students advanced science experiences and mentorship.  IPS graduates who successfully complete the rigorous program can attend Purdue free of charge.  There are now 57 IPS Science Bound graduates enrolled at Purdue.

• Riverside School 44 went from restructuring to making AYP within a one-year period.

• Arlington Community High School physics teacher Gail Schwoebel won the 2009 ISTA/Horace Mann Hoosier Educator of the Year Award.

• More than 700 corporate volunteers served as reading tutors for IPS fourth grade students in year two (2008-2009) of ReadUP, a United Way of Central Indiana program. More than 43 percent of participating students who were reading up to two and a half years below grade level were reading at grade level at the conclusion of the program’s successful first year.

• Thanks to a partnership with Finance Center Federal Credit Union, Arsenal Technical High School is home to a student-run credit union branch.  It teaches students about money management.

• IPS has established specialized academies to reach students with special interests and special needs, as well as students with disruptive behavior.

• IPS students are more successful in high school than they were three years ago.  The number of students retained in grades 9, 10 and 11 has decreased by 44% -- meaning that more students are earning credits to move up a grade each year.

• IPS’ Grade 12 enrollment increased 43 percent from the 2004-2005 school year to 2007-2008.

• Alternative options programs at middle schools and high schools, plus higher expectations in student supervision and behavior management have contributed to a reduction in expulsions.

• The number of IPS students taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams increased 61 percent from 2002 to 2006.

• IPS has reorganized its central administration to attack the low academic performance in Grades 8-12. 

• The number of IPS graduates who plan to attend a four-year college increased 68 percent from 2004 to 2006.

• The number of IPS students taking algebra by 10th grade increased 70 percent from 2003 to 2006.

• Students in Grades 3-8 take benchmark tests every nine weeks to ensure they are learning state standards in language arts and math.

Like school districts across the state, IPS’ 2008 ISTEP+ scores were mixed. They dipped this year at the third grade level, but IPS continues to make progress at the sixth and seventh grades.

Some highlights:
 

• At the new Sidener Academy, the district’s gifted school, 100 percent of Grade 3 students passed, with 21 percent achieving pass-plus status. At Grade 4, 94 percent of students passed both sections.  In Grade 5, 99 percent passed both areas. When IPS decided to develop a school for the gifted, there were those in the community who didn’t believe IPS had any gifted students. These scores validate that children from all socio-economic backgrounds can achieve at high levels as long as we provide them with the tools they need to achieve.

• At George Buck School 94, 73 percent of third-graders and 71 percent of sixth-graders passed both portions of the test.

• At Anna Brochhausen School 88, 71 percent of sixth-graders passed the test.

• At Christian Park School 82, 72 percent of fifth-graders passed both portions.

• At the Center for Inquiry at School 84, 81 percent of seventh-graders and 70 percent of eighth-graders passed the test.

• At Center for Inquiry at School 2, 78 percent of sixth-graders and 74 percent of seventh-graders met state standards.

• IPS Montessori schools continue to lead the district and state in achievement.

• At Francis W. Parker School 56, 75 percent of fourth-graders, 80 percent  of fifth-graders, 78 percent of sixth-graders and 70 percent of seventh-graders passed.

• At Rousseau McClellan School 91, 75 percent of fifth-graders, 74 percent of sixth-graders, 96 percent of seventh-graders and 84 percent of eighth-graders passed both portions of the test.