Are new partnerships between Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) and local charter schools on the way? The invitation is now open after IPS announced that they are accepting letters of interest until September 30 for local charter schools to join their Innovation Network.

How We Got Here

The announcement comes on the heels of the IPS Board’s Resolution No. 8020 from June 27th of this year. The resolution featured five distinct “be it resolved” statements, but there’s one in particular that’s germane to our topic today. Number two of the five articles states that the board “further directs the administration to provide a public update and plan on the cultivation of Innovation Network Schools [sic] partners and the application process by August 2024, specifically addressing how schools with a demonstrated track record of success will be engaged.” 

That itself comes on the heels (there’s just a whole lot of heels in this story, sorry to all my readers named Achilles) of the Better Together campaign petitioning the IPS Board to explore deeper collaboration with local charter schools to improve academic outcomes for students in Center Township.

To sum up? Better Together asked the IPS Board to consider partnering with public charter schools. The board directed IPS administration to draw up a plan. The IPS administration just released the plan. And now local schools have a few more weeks to indicate their interest in joining the Innovation Network. Which brings us to a natural next question.

What is the Innovation Network anyway?

Back in 2014, the Indiana legislature passed what is commonly referred to as the Innovation Network School law. This allowed public school districts to launch and oversee a type of hybrid school that combined the services of a district school with the autonomy and flexibility of a charter school.

The first Innovation Network School opened within IPS in 2016. Today, IPS’ Innovation Network consists of 22 schools. Meanwhile, Innovation Network Schools have spread to other parts of the state as well, with MSD Decatur Township and South Bend School Corporation both adding Innovation Network Schools to their respective portfolios in recent years.

Historically, there have been five types of Innovation Network Schools within IPS.

1. New school: a new school opens in partnership with IPS.
2. New charter partnership: an existing or new charter school enters a partnership with IPS that includes shared services like transportation, professional development, food service, etc.
3. Restart: a new partner submits an application to restart an underperforming IPS school that the district has identified as needing intervention.
4. Conversion: a high-performing IPS school applies for Innovation Network status to take advantage of increased autonomy and flexibility in serving students, oftentimes with a unique model.
5. Jumpstart: an existing, underperforming IPS school converts to Innovation Network status as a means of creating stronger conditions to improve student outcomes while retaining current school leadership and staff.

Okay, now back to the future. Those five pathways are historical. Not necessarily in the dustbin, but certainly confined to history where IPS is concerned. That’s because IPS whittled down the prospective pathways from five to three. Gone are jumpstart and restart. The remaining pathways are new school, new charter partnership, and conversion.

The removal of restart raises this question for me. What will IPS’ strategy be to raise student achievement at historically underperforming schools? While restart results have been mixed, the district’s Emerging Schools cohort hasn’t achieved better results either.

What’s Next for the Innovation Network?

If you fit into the Venn diagram overlap between “Avid link clickers” and “Diligent Chalkbeat Indiana readers” you may have noticed that list of IPS Innovation Network Schools I linked to above is outdated. A 23^rd school joined their ranks just last month: Believe Circle City High School (Believe). It’s the first addition in a number of years. Moreover, the decision passed the IPS board with a unanimous 7-0 vote. 

This fits squarely into the “new charter partnership” category noted above. Opened in 2019, Believe is an independent charter high school with a college and career preparatory model. You may have seen them in the news earlier this year for graduating students who had already earned an associate’s degree while still in high school.

Like every other charter school, Believe is tuition free and open to any student who wishes to attend. And, conveniently for their model, it is located right across the street from Ivy Tech. I reckon it’s a savvy move for IPS to bring Believe into the fold as a great high school option for families. For Believe? They get support with food service, access to athletic facilities, and $500 in funding per student who lives within IPS boundaries.

Ultimately, it also opens the door to more win-win partnerships like this after a relatively contentious period between the district and local charter schools. Now it just remains to be seen which local charter schools will throw their hat in the ring with a letter of interest by September 30.