Indiana schools will once again be assigned A-to-F letter grades, reinstating an accountability measure that has been paused since the 2020-21 school year.

The site created by the Indiana Department of Education is intended to show how school performance goes beyond a single test score.

Indiana lawmakers are calling the budget they passed this legislative session "historic," largely because of the education funding included in it, but the General Assembly also made substantial changes to school accountability that give local leaders more control to address poor school performance.

The Indiana State Board of Education is revamping the accountability system and has suggested new ways to evaluate school quality could include attendance rates, social studies and science test scores, and career exploration.

In the first round of applications considered by the State Board of Education this week, about a dozen school corporations requested waivers of some kind.

The cancellation of spring testing because of the COVID-19 pandemic means the state didn't have new ILEARN data to calculate this year's grades.

The bill grants a two-year delay on schools receiving a lower A-F state rating based on scores from the 2019 or 2020 ILEARN exams. It also prevents the scores from being used in teacher evaluations.

Indiana teachers and schools will be shielded from penalties from last year's poor statewide standardized test scores.

A significant drop in scores on ILEARN compared to the state's old ISTEP test prompted calls from leaders across the state for lawmakers to avoid penalizing schools through state accountability measures.

Republican legislative leaders are urging the state to use 2018 ISTEP scores for school letter grades and teacher evaluations this school year, instead of 2019 ILEARN scores.