Nearly 19 percent of Indiana students were chronically absent last school year, a substantial increase from the years before the pandemic.

The Indiana Department of Education announced Tuesday that Tippecanoe School Corporation's Sharita Ware is the Indiana Teacher of the Year.

Indiana is scrambling to correct a longstanding violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and it plans to stop issuing emergency permits for special education teachers in less than nine months.

Indiana education officials took the next step to revamp school accountability this week.

Indiana lawmakers worry the state’s rush to end emergency permits for special education teachers will leave schools with unfilled positions to help students with disabilities.

Indiana issued thousands of emergency special education teaching permits in violation of federal law over the last four years. But the fix could make the teacher shortage worse.

The Indiana State Board of Education is in the process of developing a new school performance data dashboard, after lawmakers approved legislation to create it earlier this year.

About 70 percent of Indiana schools had lower attendance rates in 2020-21 compared to the previous year, a sign of the toll that the fragmented education during the pandemic took on students.

Some Marion County schools earned the lowest passing rates on the state’s latest standardized test. And long-standing achievement gaps for low-income students and Black students at some Indianapolis school districts remained far below their peers and the statewide average.

The federal government recently dismissed an investigation into the Indiana Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights earlier this year opened an investigation citing “disturbing reports” from parents of students with disabilities who said their children were forced into “one size fits all” remote learning programs.