House Bill 1035, which has recently been introduced in the Indiana House of Representatives, has only one goal, to eliminate school improvement plans. According to the Indiana Department of Education, a school improvement plan (SIP) is a way to track the progress of schools through various different areas, such as graduation rates and ILEARN test results. Schools, as the issue currently stands, typically set a three-year goal to either institute a new curriculum, address student needs or improve on different statistics. Through this policy, Indiana high schools have been able to achieve much success. Through SIPs, for example, this school has been able to better address the needs of students, which has most recently manifested with this school’s new polytechnic department, where students are able to explore a multitude of different fields, including construction, computer science, teaching and construction. 

While this bill will not ban SIPs, a number of schools will stop using SIPs if not required, meaning the state will not be able to push as hard for individual student success. This would have impacts in lots of different fields. Technology, for example, would not need to be integrated into schools as heavily, which could leave kids disadvantaged in a heavily digitalized world. Schools would no longer have to provide courses that make students eligible for an academic honors diploma and would not be suggested to encourage students to go on either an honors diploma or a Core 40 path. Cultural competency, which advocates for understanding between students and faculty of different backgrounds, would also no longer be advocated for by the state. The state also uses SIPs to advocate for professional development programs, which could become obsolete as schools opt out of using SIPs.

The administration of this school is part of what makes this school great, and the administration is able to strive for the success of each and every student at this school in part due to SIPs. Because of this, the HiLite staff hopes House Bill 1035 will not pass into law, but if it is, we encourage  both this school’s administration and other administrations from across the state to continue to use SIPs to support the success of every student who walks through the doors of a public school.