The broken promise of Indiana’s online schools is the first of series of disturbing articles on Indiana’s online schools from chalkbeat.org.
Here is a link to the entire series of articles from chalkbeat.org. There are a total of 15 articles. I have included some of the articles in Resources below.
Visit Chalkbeat to learn more about the organization.
Chalkbeat – Education news. In context
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization committed to covering one of America’s most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education.
We are mission-driven, in that we believe that every child deserves an excellent education, and that a strong press is vital to making that happen. Yet we are also fiercely independent, in that we do not take a position on the best path for achieving equity.
Because we believe that education is fundamentally a local issue, our coverage is rooted in local communities. To date, we report from and about five locations: Colorado, Detroit, Indiana, New York, and Tennessee. (If you’d like to see Chalkbeat come to your community, let us know.) Read more about our history and mission here.
As a nonprofit, Chalkbeat’s support comes from a diverse mix of sources, including sponsors who pay for opportunities to share messages with our readers and donors who believe in our mission. As most local news sources shrink, creating more so-called “news deserts,” Chalkbeat is building a sustainable model that is local, substantive, and independent.
Chalkbeat has developed a WordPress plug in to measure the impact of their work called MORI. They have made the plugin available to other organizations.
What follows is from Measuring your organization’s impact with MORI from WordCamp DC 2017:
In 2014, Chalkbeat developed and started using a WordPress plugin for tracking impact. We called it MORI — Measures of Our Reporting’s Influence. As we wrote then, MORI grew out of one of our key beliefs: Journalists can make a difference, but the ability to measure the difference we make can multiply our impact over time. If we can document how, why, when, and where we made a difference, we are more likely to repeat our success.
Learn about how and why we measure impact at Chalkbeat, and what you can use MORI for in your own organization.
Download and explore the free, open-sourced version of our MORI plugin at https://github.com/Chalkbeat/MORI
Resources:
The broken promise of Indiana’s online schools
BY SHAINA CAVAZOS – DECEMBER 15, 2016, from chalkbeat.org.
After years of failing grades, Hoosier Academy Virtual will close in June
BY SHAINA CAVAZOS – SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Indiana state board member resigns from position as leader of Hoosier Academies online charter schools
BY SHAINA CAVAZOS – OCTOBER 27, 2017, from chalkbeat.org.
As students signed up, online school hired barely any teachers — but founder’s company charged it millions
BY SHAINA CAVAZOS – OCTOBER 31, 2017, from chalkbeat.org.
Former Indiana schools chief Glenda Ritz: Virtual schools ‘prey’ on vulnerable students
BY SHAINA CAVAZOS – NOVEMBER 13, 2017, from chalkbeat.org.
Few teachers, low scores, and ethical questions. Behind our Indiana Virtual School investigation.
BY SHAINA CAVAZOS – NOVEMBER 13, 2017, from chalkbeat.org
