INDIANA – The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) today presented the latest round of enhancements to Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed (Indiana GPS) – a performance dashboard empowering educators, families, communities, and employers with a robust view of how Indiana students are building the necessary knowledge and skills – in all grades and all schools.
“When we first launched Indiana GPS in December 2022, we shared that one of the guiding principles of this platform is that it will be nimble and constantly improving based on feedback,” said Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education. “Since the initial launch, we have received feedback from educators about the desire to be able to dig into and learn from other schools’ data about what’s working and where, and also, how their own students might benefit from implementing similar strategies. From parents and families, we heard a similar desire to be able to easily see multiple schools and the assets of each school. The enhancements we are releasing today are a reflection of that feedback.”
Enhancements include:
- An additional filter for third-grade reading data.
- Users may select “tested location” or “majority enrolled” on the 3rd-grade literacy indicator.
- The “Tested location” is where students attended when they took the test. Indiana has historically displayed IREAD data this way.
- “Majority enrolled” refers to the school where students spend most of the school year.
- Users may select “tested location” or “majority enrolled” on the 3rd-grade literacy indicator.
- A new map aims to help educators and families locate schools in a defined geographical area and a particular area of interest.
- Users may search for schools by zip code, address, or city and filter by additional categories such as grade levels served, school type, etc. By clicking on the star to the right of each school name, users can also “favorite” a school.
- Users may search for schools by zip code, address, or city and filter by additional categories such as grade levels served, school type, etc. By clicking on the star to the right of each school name, users can also “favorite” a school.
- A new comparison tool to learn more about the strengths of each school.
- Once a user has selected two or more schools as “favorites,” they can view and compare their performance on each of the indicators currently available on the dashboard.
In addition to the enhancements listed above, all indicators have been refreshed to reflect the most recent data available. Similar to the process during the initial launch of Indiana GPS and subsequent enhancements in 2023, school leaders had access to an embargoed pre-release of these enhancements and the new data. This provided an opportunity to ask questions and share feedback before the public launch. As a result of ongoing feedback from schools, updates continue to be made to the dashboard to ensure it is as comprehensive and as easy to use as possible.
The development of Indiana GPS follows the enactment of House Enrolled Act 1514 in 2021, which directed IDOE and the Indiana State Board of Education to develop a school performance dashboard that promotes transparency and multiple student measures, including longitudinal measures. The dashboard officially launched in December 2022, one and a half years before the statutorily-required July 1, 2024 date.
The development of this dashboard is an iterative process and will continue to be improved over time, with new data and features added. To explore the dashboard, visit indianagps.doe.in.gov.
