INDIANAPOLIS — The May primary is less than a week away, and 13News has been examining issues Hoosiers said are important to them.
One of the big ones is education.
RISE Indy is an Indianapolis organization that just marked five years of advocating on education policies. Besides offering educational programs for Marion County families, RISE also pushes for change at the Indiana Statehouse.
RISE Indy says the next governor of Indiana needs to look at the state's teacher shortage and how to change that. The organization said they're seeing fewer people get into the profession and more leaving it. They recently surveyed 575 teachers in all 11 school districts and public charters in Marion County.
In June, RISE Indy plans to release six recommendations that came from that survey they hope the next governor will look at. In those recommendations, you can expect to see how to address the teacher shortage in Indiana. RISE Indy says it starts with more support for teachers, via tutors working in the classroom to help students with reading.
"We're also looking at the high-dosage tutoring that we've been talking about, which is a proven literacy intervention in school that the students can use to get that extra help they need to raise their literacy rates, because we also know that teachers are at full capacity on a regular basis, so this is something that will support the teachers and the students in school to raise their literacy rates," RISE Indy's Katherin Chi said.
Literacy got a lot of attention this past legislative session, including a new law that supporters hope will address what many call a literacy crisis in the state. It's another issue RISE Indy says needs to be at the top of the next governor's list of priorities.