Why did Tony Bennett change Indiana’s school grading system?
In 2010, I visited Christel House Academy, a charter school in Indianapolis that differed starkly from regular Indianapolis public schools. Spanish classes started in kindergarten. In fourth grade, overnight camping trips began and by fifth grade, so did college trips. As part of the school’s focus on project-based learning, a group of middle schoolers were working on a project about the global water crisis, planning to help a village in Tanzania get access to clean water.
Tony Bennett
Now, the school–a point of pride in the city’s charter sector–is at the center of a grade-changing scandal involving former Indiana State Superintendent Tony Bennett (R.). According to an investigation by The Associated Press, Bennett altered the grade of the popular Indianapolis charter school while he was still in office. Christel House Academy initially earned a C on the state’s accountability system due to poor algebra test scores. But Bennett, now the schools chief in Florida, and his team tweaked the system before the grades were made public and Christel House was given an A.
Although the changes affected grades about a dozen schools, as Bennett has pointed out, Christel House has garnered the most attention. Its founder, Christel DeHaan, is an influential Republican donor. But Christel House has its own political value; it is an important school in the Indiana charter landscape.
“They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our
