Indiana Blog

We can do better.  And we must do better on behalf of our children.

That's the message a group of Stand Indiana parent members left the IPS board with this week. They were able to advocate and win approval for the first-ever Innovation School in IPS.  As the head of Stand Indiana's family engagement program and an IPS parent, I was proud.  

Together, IPS parents are creating change that is improving educational opportunity for our children.  But we have so much more work left to do.  

Stand for Children Indiana is hoping state legislators focus time and energy this session on the most critical component of student success—teacher quality.

Stand Indiana will support legislation that extends the reach of Indiana’s highest-quality teachers, while providing them with more pay and additional leadership opportunities in our schools. Key components of the potential legislation include providing grant funding to school districts to help them establish career pathways for teachers and incentivizing more teamwork and collaboration within the teaching ranks.

The largest Stand University for Parents (Stand UP) class yet is scheduled to graduate this Saturday morning at Crispus Attucks.  Fifty-three IPS parents, grandparents and adult siblings completed six weeks of courses to learn how to better support the academic success of the children in their lives and build meaningful partnerships with their child’s school leaders. 

Graduates will share their stories of how the program has empowered them to change their own lives, as well as make changes to support all IPS students. 

Tonight’s vote by the Indianapolis City-County Council to give the city’s most at-risk kids access to early education is a great show of bipartisanship that should be applauded, according to leaders from Stand for Children Indiana.

The council voted 19-8 to approve a $40 million investment to expand preschool access to as many as 1,300 low-income children starting in 2016. The compromise plan was shaped by Democratic council leadership, working with Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration.