President Trump has pledged to shut down the Department of Education. 1,300 employees have already been laid off. The idea is to return control to states and local communities, and eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies. Scott Thuman found out what that looks like in one state that already wrested itself from the grip of federal oversight and found a blueprint for success.
The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.
What’s happening here in Indiana classrooms getting some presidential praise.
President Donald Trump: What I want to do is let the states run schools. I could give the schools back to Iowa and Idaho and Indiana and all these places that run properly.
Scott Thuman: What did you think when you heard that?
Katie Jenner: Word travels fast when the president of our country gives a shout-out to our state.
Katie Jenner is Indiana’s secretary of education.
Katie Jenner: We have people who have rolled up their sleeves to really, really stay focused on student outcomes in areas like reading, making sure kids have access to STEM, making sure our high schools are as valuable as possible for kids.
The path to national recognition was set a decade ago, when Indiana dumped “Common Core,” a widely used approach to education that set state academic standards in math and English.
Now the state sets its own, including year-round learning programs for students, tax credits for tutoring, and an intense focus on reading.
Katie Jenner: If really we know by the end of third grade if a child can read or not, why are we taking that main assessment at the end of third grade? Why don’t we take it in second grade? Now we know exactly where to intervene and who to support.
There are signs it’s working: between 2022 and 2024, Indiana’s 4th and 8th graders jumped from the bottom 20 states to 6th in the nation in reading.
Another overhaul, says Jenner, is with the state’s oldest students.
Katie Jenner: I think our opportunity and really our push in Indiana is how do we light the fire of purpose in kids and show them their value and what’s possible? So we did a massive high school diploma overhaul.
Graduates can still earn a standard diploma, but Indiana redesigned the high school experience to be more personalized and aligned with students’ future goals. Students now choose a pathway, whether that’s preparing for college, entering the workforce, or enlisting in the military, with coursework tailored to support their chosen direction.
Scott Thuman: You think the decisions and the moves that the state has been making are paying off in the classroom?
Angel Jackson-Anderson: Absolutely.
Angel Jackson-Anderson is the principal at Believe Circle City High School, a charter school in Indianapolis. She says extending courses through what used to be summer break is paying dividends.
Angel Jackson-Anderson: Every year educators have been trying to figure out, what are we going to do to get our kids across? What I’ve seen with summer learning labs is the amount of growth that kids are getting in a very short amount of time. It seems like kids are growing at rapid rates.
Marell Tyson, a sophomore here at Circle City, is one of those kids.
Scott Thuman: What’s your favorite subject?
Marell Tyson: Math. They told me that I could do the mechanical engineering program.
For his mom, Shawanda Tyson, the summer programs have been a game changer.
Shawanda Tyson: You can choose a STEM summer variety. You could choose a multi-activity summer learning lab. He gets morals, values, education, they teach him, they take them on trips. It is a sense of belonging.
Despite the state’s push to improve student outcomes, private donations have been crucial to making it happen.
Scott Thuman: Do you have to have more support outside of state taxes to be successful?
Katie Jenner: Public dollars in a tight economy can be tough to come by. The private dollars, though, a lot of times give that boost of funding to really allow that sustainability to continue even when the state or federal dollars may be more questionable.
Scott Thuman: Could that derail your efforts at all?
Katie Jenner: I am not concerned at all about the conversation regarding the U.S. Department of Education. As states, we already set our standards. What I absolutely have my eye on right now is how might we leverage the moment to get more flexibility in how we use those federal dollars.
A lesson in how more flexibility lets states prioritize local needs, without federal barriers. For Full Measure, Scott Thuman in Indianapolis.
Watch video here.
