IMPACT

Indiana State Profile

Indiana Department of Education (IDOE)
Indianapolis, IN

East Central Indiana Education Service Center
Indianapolis, IN

Eastern Indiana Works
Rushville. IN

EmployIndy
Indianapolis, IN

Governor’s Office of Equity, Inclusion, & Opportunity
Indianapolis, IN

Governor’s Workforce Cabinet
Indianapolis, IN

Indiana Chamber of Commerce
Indianapolis, IN

Indiana Commission for Higher Education
Indianapolis, IN

Indiana Department of Workforce Development
Indianapolis, IN

Ivy Tech Communinty College
Indianapolis, IN

Muncie Community Schools
Muncie, IN

New Castle Community School Corporation
Castle, IN

Randolph Eastern County School Corporation
Union City, IN

Richmond Community Schools
Richmond, IN

Educational and Workforce Landscape

Secondary K–12

Governed by:

  • Indiana Department of Education
  • Locally Elected School Boards

Public school enrollment K–12:
1,112,611

School Districts: 442

Public school enrollment 9–12:
341,646

Graduation rate: 86.4%

CTE Participation rate:
In 2020-21, there were 141,427 participants in career and technical education (CTE) in Indiana. Of the students reporting as male or female, 51.8 percent of secondary CTE participants were male, and 48.2 percent were female. At the postsecondary level, 42.9 percent of CTE participants were male and 57.1 percent were female.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Perkins Reporting System, 2022

CTE graduation rate:

  • State determined performance level- 95%;
  • Actual level of performance- 98.43%

Postsecondary

Governed by:
Indiana Commission for Higher Education

Enrollment/Completion Data:

  • 53% College-Going Rate
  • 45.3% On-Time Completion

Number by Type of Schools

  • 2-year Community College: 12
  • 4-year Public University: 15
  • 4-year Private University: 46
  • 2-year Technical College: 29

Workforce

Workforce Agency:
Indiana Department of Workforce Development

Top Industries/Jobs:

  • Advanced Manufacturing
  • Life Sciences
  • Logistics & Transportation
  • Information Technology

Job Openings to Worker Ratio

June of 2023

  • Job Openings: 188.6K
  • Unemployment: 108.3K

March 2023

  • 110.4K potential workers

Unemployed per job opening: 0.6

Points of Interest

  • 21st Century Scholars: early commitment promise program
  • 264% Earning College Credit
  • 25.5% completing Post-Secondary Credential
  • 1st in the Midwest and 5th in the Nation in need-based financial aid
  • Ivy Tech is the nation’s largest singly-accredited community college system.

College & Career Pathways Successes

  • Indiana College Core and the Core Transfer Library
  • Indiana e-Transcript 2013
  • Early College High School 2013
  • Graduation Pathway Policy 2022-2023
  • Next Level Program of Study
  • Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed 2023
  • Crossing the Finish Line
  • 3 E Grant
  • Urban Early College Acceleration Network Grant
  • EARN Indiana WBL Expansion
  • Established Network of non-profit and governmental intermediaries
  • Skill-Up
  • EWIN Pathway Initiatives
  • Paths to Prosperity
  • Sector Partnerships/Strategies
  • Modern Youth Apprenticeship

Goals and Priorities for Launch

Indiana Launch Goals:

  • Identify barriers to career pathways for Black, Latino and economically disadvantaged students who historically have not experienced a high rate of post-secondary success
  • Define quality pathways to include definitions of high-quality work-based learning experiences
  • Define Credentials of Value in the Region
  • Implement and learn from a regional pathway approach to include the above and to scale supporting policies and processes to include
    • Career Coaching (Exploration, Engagement and Experience)
    • Standardize Access to Career Coaching Opportunities
  • Fall 23: Focus on state definitions and goal setting work, using LAUNCH districts as a sounding board and working to raise awareness and familiarity of the work.
  • Spring 24: Create the tools that will allow districts to align toward the definitions and goals, esp. around WBL and credentials: operationalize pathways
  • Big picture sequencing: State Definitions > Goal setting > Tools that create regional alignment & operationalize pathways

Through the Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed initiative, IDOE and stakeholders across the state have worked to define a set of five characteristics that indicate a student’s preparation for success after high school. These characteristics include: academic mastery, career and postsecondary readiness (credentials and experience), communication and collaboration, work ethic, and civic, financial, and digital literacy.

In support of this effort, Indiana is focused on defining quality pathways that lead to credentials of currency and high-quality work-based learning experiences. In order to achieve our goals, Indiana must learn how to scale systems that provide access to all communities. East Central Indiana has both the challenges and the assets.

The two school districts serve a majority economically disadvantaged student population: 73% (Richmond) and 62.7% (Randolph Eastern). The region covers 14 counties with over 65,000 students. By 2050, the area’s population is projected to decline by 15%. Due to these challenges, the region is focused on activating partnerships between K-12, higher education, and the workforce to find solutions to develop and retain talent.

Through this initiative, the partnership hopes to identify pathways of interest that are inclusive of opportunities for the identified students to earn post-secondary credentials and to provide greater access to high-quality work-based learning opportunities that lead to credentials of currency that will support the postsecondary high-wage, high-demand job attainment.

Through the Forge Your Path coalition work, part of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) READI grant and the East Central Talent Region work with Ball State University, the following pathways have been identified: healthcare, manufacturing, food process and agribusiness, IT, financial and customer service, logistics, and education.

In service of building out these pathways, the partnership aspires to develop standard approaches to providing access to all students and providing standard practice around the career advising continuum.

Local District Profiles

Richmond Community Schools

Urbanacity (enrollment, geography, demographics):

4574 Students (11.3% Latinx, 8.1% Black, 14% Multiracial)
Urban Setting

Defining characteristics/points of interest:

Perspective on Pathways

As a member school corporation of the Launch Equitable & Accelerating Pathways For All Indiana Impact Cohort team, we have for many years subscribed to the tenets found within the Launch initiative. Wrapping essential supports around our marginalized impoverished learners and placing them onto pathways of success, has been our collective charge. By partnering with statewide businesses, we are intentionally creating a model that will allow us to organically transform our workforce development programming. By eliminating historical barriers that have aided in the inequitable practices found within traditional schooling, we will give our students the opportunity to earn credentials of value and gain all necessary skill sets to flourish in our 21st century economy.

Dr. Curtis L. Wright,
Superintendent (Richmond Community Schools)

Randolph Eastern County Schools

Urbanacity (enrollment, geography, demographics):

924 Students (31.1% Latinx, 3.6% Multiracial)
Rural Setting

Defining characteristics/points of interest:

Perspective on Pathways

Breaking down barriers, the Launch group is dedicated to ensuring that a student’s access to quality education is never dictated by their zip code. Together, we’re shaping a future where every Indiana student has an equal opportunity to learn and thrive.

Aaron Black,
Superintendent

New Castle Community Schools

Urbanacity (enrollment, geography, demographics):

2951 Students (4.3% Latinx, 1.7% Black, 5.5% Multiracial)
Micropolitan Setting

Defining characteristics/points of interest:

Perspective on Pathways

Participating in the Launch Initiative is supporting my school corporation’s effort to establish a unified process and structure to assess and monitor the level of equity and access of our programs, courses and pathways for all student groups. It is aligning nicely to other grant work which is fostering the development of many new pathways and Launch will act as our assessment piece to assure true equity of access and to provide quantifiable data and a consistent process for evaluation. Launch is also bringing entities together that have not traditionally been at the same table which, together, are attempting to create a common language, definition, and platform for credentials for post secondary life for all students.

Sherri Bergum,
Director of Curriculum and Instruction

Muncie Community Schools

Urbanacity (enrollment, geography, demographics):

4996 Students (5.3% Latinx, 21.5% Black, 15% Multiracial)
Urban

Defining characteristics/points of interest:

Perspective on Pathways

Reference Links and More Information

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