I am in Indianapolis today and tomorrow for the annual CELL Conference on Indiana's Future.  This year's conference title is Choices, Challenges, and Change and will focus on education reform in Indiana.  With the New Tech Network being such a prevalent part of education reform, and CELL being s supporter of the network, a lot of the sessions are being conducted by New Tech Directors from Indiana, and I am looking forward to attending some of those with Jen Felke and Mr. Tyree.  

In addition to the conference, I am also attending a New Tech Network director's meeting this morning prior to the conference.  It is a great opportunity to meet some of the other directors from around the state, and listen to how the year is going for their schools.  While at this conference the following data was shared about the New Tech Network in Indiana:

• Indiana New Tech Schools have a 95.6% attendance rate compared to the comparison average of 94.6%
• Indiana New Tech Schools have a lower suspension/expulsion rate than comparison schools (Suspension Rate 11.4% vs. 17.2%, Expulsion Rate 10.0% vs. 13.1%)
• In 2010-2011, a greater percentage of New Tech students passed their ECAs than students at comparison schools. 
• In 2009-2010, New Tech students out-performed both comparison schools and all high schools statewide in both Algebra I and English 10 ECAs, with a greater percentage of New Tech students passing these assessment.