Student Success Indicators

Supporting students for lifelong success

 

Indiana’s Graduates Prepared to Succeed Dashboard

In this case study

Indiana GPS Overview

What is Indiana GPS?

What does Indiana GPS measure?

How was Indiana GPS developed?

Why this matters

What is innovative about Indiana GPS?

What can we learn to further the work?

Resources

Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed is the state’s first future-focused dashboard.

Launched in late 2022 by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), the Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) dashboard displays how well students are developing the broad set of skills, knowledge and characteristics critical to their future.

The goal:

Use a wider range of measures, in addition to traditional academic tests, to understand if students are on track for success after high school and if they are prepared for living wage jobs and civic participation.

Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed Dashboard graphic

Watch a video about how education leaders are using these indicators in Indiana.

Indiana GPS

Sample Indicators:

Kindergarten readiness, 3rd grade literacy proficiency, 6th grade math growth, completion of college and career courses in high school, FAFSA completion and career exploration, and median income five years after graduation..

Measures:

Outcomes students need to achieve to be ready for college, career and life.

The indicators in the GPS measures of student outcomes are associated with academic and lifelong success.

“In choosing the Indiana GPS measures, education leaders emphasized shifting from adult- and school-centered data to student-centered data. This allows for a more diverse representation of the data than we have had in the past.”

— Charity Flores, chief academic officer, IDOE

A diverse group of stakeholders informed the development of Indiana GPS. Over two years, the department consulted with educators, school district leaders, college leaders, employers, parents and community advocates to define what today’s world requires of students. First, they determined key characteristics of student success: the knowledge and skills every student should have by high school graduation to ensure they are well prepared for their next steps. Then, the department and these stakeholders planned how the characteristics should be measured to demonstrate progress.

Indiana intends for academic-focused indicators to be measured alongside work ethic, collaboration skills and financial literacy. Additionally, Indiana GPS incorporates longitudinal data to help education leaders and policymakers see patterns of student progression. These data can inform steps to improve curriculum, student transitions and supports, or school structures. State leaders also intend for Indiana GPS to give families and community stakeholders more meaningful, relevant and transparent information about progress and performance.

Indiana GPS is being leveraged by educators and policymakers. According to IDOE leaders, the dashboard is helping the agency identify schools that need more support. It also has informed new legislation designed to improve evidence-based teaching strategies in reading. Importantly, lawmakers directed IDOE to formally link the dashboard’s more comprehensive data with the state’s accountability system in 2023.

“Indiana GPS matters because it’s not just a single test score. It has multiple indicators that demonstrate a child’s success as they go through K12 education.”

— Katie Jenner, secretary of education, Indiana Department of Education

Future iterations of Indiana GPS will include even more measures. In response to stakeholder priorities, IDOE is committed to creating indicators that will further measure nonacademic outcomes and gaps in student learning or will use data that hasn’t traditionally been collected by the state. IDOE calls these indicators aspirational because they seek to assess skills or knowledge that aren’t easily measurable. The department is working to overcome these challenges and add these measures to the dashboard as soon as possible.

“If you do nothing else, take the five main characteristics for student success and engage with community, chambers of commerce, and your faith-based members and figure out what it will take to improve outcomes.”

— Jason Callahan, assistant secretary of student pathways, IDOE

What is Indiana GPS?

Indiana GPS is organized to provide insights into student progress in five characteristics of success:

Indiana GPS:

Academic mastery

Career and postsecondary readiness

Communications and collaboration

Work ethic

Civic, digital and financial literacy

“As part of engaging stakeholders, we asked, What are our key characteristics? How do you measure work ethic? How do you measure some of these things at scale?”

— Katie Jenner,  secretary of education, Indiana Department of Education

Indiana GPS measures progress on these six characteristics with a variety of indicators.

Examples include:

Kindergarten readiness

3rd grade literacy proficiency

6th grade math growth

Completion of college and career coursework in high school

FAFSA completion and career exploration

Median income five years after High School

View all 17 GPS Indicators

What does Indiana GPS measure?

The dashboard tracks how well students are building the necessary knowledge and skills in the five characteristics of student success. It measures school performance and student progress, whether students’ post-graduation steps are seeking employment, enrolling in postsecondary courses or enlisting in the military.

It measures specific outcomes for students who often have the least opportunities for success in the K12 system. This includes English language learners, youth experiencing homelessness, high-ability students, and students from different races and ethnicities.

It also elevates higher performing schools that are achieving noticeable successes with these student populations. This includes measuring a range of experiences, from 3rd grade reading success to FAFSA completion. Schools with similar student demographics can learn from these experiences and model best practices.

“We asked, ‘How are specific groups of students —free and reduced lunch students, non-English speaking students, special education students, students experiencing homelessness–achieving? You have to drill down into what those results mean and what we can do about them.”

— David Marcotte, executive director, Indiana Urban Schools Association

How was Indiana GPS developed?

Momentum had been building in Indiana to reimagine its accountability system. This shift was happening even before the COVID-19 pandemic shook up education systems. Policymakers, families, educators and communities wanted better data to see how schools were supporting students and preparing them for lifelong success. On the heels of state leaders suspending the A–F grading approach to school accountability during the pandemic, legislators enacted House Enrolled Act 1514 in 2021, directing IDOE to develop a performance dashboard and eliminate consequences for struggling schools.

IDOE invested in a yearlong development process that sought input from a diverse range of stakeholders. Through the summer and fall of 2021, Indiana’s education secretary and her team engaged nearly 100 leaders with a stake in the K12 education system, including:

  • Public higher education and postsecondary campus leaders
  • Families and parents
  • Civil rights groups and education advocates
  • Business leaders and employers

Stakeholder feedback shaped the five characteristics for student success. The department ultimately adopted these as the foundation for Indiana GPS. IDOE also consulted with stakeholders to identify ideal measures for these characteristics and sought feedback from leaders at the state board of education, the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet, the Commission for Higher Education, superintendent study councils and professional associations. After seeking public comment, the board of education approved a final set of 17 indicators aligned with the five characteristics and spanning all grade levels in December 2021.

IDOE shared a prerelease of Indiana GPS to educators in advance to gather further feedback. It developed three preliminary iterations to explain the dashboard: why each indicator matters, context on state benchmarks and goals, and custom district and school landing pages. It also provided communications resources to help educators explain Indiana GPS to families and partners.

Why this matters

Indiana GPS has the potential to expand transparency and strengthen accountability in Indiana. While all states publish information to assess student and school performance, what stands out about Indiana’s student success indicators is:

  • A focus on how well students are prepared for success after high school and for their future steps. Indiana GPS measures whether students are entering the workforce, enrolling in postsecondary education or enlisting in the military, along with milestones to measure progress along the way.
  • A more comprehensive, updated view of student success. Indiana GPS considers skills and opportunities needed for success today alongside academic mastery.
  • A commitment to asking a diverse set of stakeholders within and outside the K12 system to work together. Stakeholders worked to identify the most important skills and knowledge to measure.

“We’re trying to show the whole education continuum how student outcomes in the early grades matter for student outcomes in later grades. That’s what Indiana GPS does really well.”

— Brenda Ersbe, director of school accountability, IDOE

As IDOE adds indicators and data over time, Indiana GPS will reveal clearer information about disparities. New state-level indicators such as kindergarten readiness and FAFSA completion will further measure nonacademic outcomes and diagnose other important gaps in student learning.

Indiana GPS insights will give educators a wider view of what can be done to expand opportunities for more students. While most states provide disaggregated data only for student performance on test scores and graduation rates, Indiana’s new indicators seek to break down and show performance of different student groups in many more areas.

“With Indiana GPS, we can drill down and make sure we are transparently shining a light on racial disparities in particular. There needs to be a robust implementation strategy to make sure Indiana GPS is really used.”

— Brandon Brown, CEO, The Mind Trust

What is innovative about Indiana GPS?

Indiana GPS pivots the state away from a more traditional and narrow approach to measuring student success toward a more comprehensive view. While implementation is in an early stage, Indiana GPS introduces a major shift from using test scores as the single primary measure.

“Indiana GPS is part of a larger effort in Indiana to better understand where our students and schools are and where they are progressing—and, more importantly, what happens to students once they leave the K12 system.”

— Jason Bearce, vice president of education and workforce development, Indiana Chamber of Commerce

The dashboard re-envisions and upgrades how student and school success are defined. Ultimately, Indiana GPS seeks to show what’s needed for student success in three post- graduation pathways:

  • Employed (workforce)
  • Enlisted (military)
  • Enrolled (postsecondary)

State leaders encouraged the involvement of many voices. The department’s consultations with stakeholders helped leaders coalesce around the dashboard’s five student success characteristics. Stakeholders will continue to have significant input as IDOE adds aspirational indicators and additional features.

IDOE Indiana GPS will add aspirational indicators, such as career exploration, high-quality work-based learning and employability skills. These innovative indicators assess the skills or knowledge that aren’t easily measurable and lack existing data sources. While figuring out how best to assess these areas is challenging, state leaders are committed to do so because stakeholders were clear that student progress in these areas was essential, too.

What can we learn to further the work?

Education First chose to profile Indiana GPS because it is an example of measuring a wider range of indicators that matter for student success. We appreciate how it includes many indicators not yet measured in any other state in order to develop a more complete view of how students are being prepared.

As Indiana moves forward, several issues will take further work to solve.

Marshal political will to address disparities. While Indiana GPS has the potential to shed greater light on disparities, it will require political will to embrace changes needed to close gaps and achieve more equitable outcomes. Rich data and more transparency are important starting points, but only the beginning.

Translate a complex set of student success measures into an actionable accountability framework. Indiana GPS promises greater insight and more nuance. Educators, policymakers and parents will have more information on overall school performance and how different student populations are faring. However, translating these data into an accountability and improvement system will require trade-offs.

Key questions include:

  • Should all indicators be weighted equally?
  • Are there correlations between data for different student outcomes?
  • How will stakeholders make sense of what various indicators say about school quality overall?
  • Indiana is confronting these questions head-on: 2023 legislation requires merging Indiana GPS with the state’s A–F letter grade accountability rating system.

Improve accessibility for families. Many parents are already inundated with information about their children from schools. While Indiana GPS emphasizes a user-friendly interface, how well will it help parents to understand what the data says and take action? State leaders are committed to incorporating family feedback, but some educators and advocates need more support and communication.

“Indiana GPS is a jumping off point. It is not the end.”

— Ron Sandlin, senior director of school performance and transformation, IDOE

Resources

Learn more about the Indiana GPS dashboard and how it measures a wide variety of student skills and knowledge necessary for success:

To read news about Indiana’s GPS dashboard, review the following stories:

Student Success Indicators

Illinois’ 5Essentials Survey

Tulsa’s Child Equity Index

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