Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. The opioid epidemic has received a lot of attention in Indiana, and for good reason. Drug overdose deaths – which are currently being driven by misuse of opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin and synthetic opioids like fentanyl – resulted in the death of almost 1,300 Hoosiers in 2016. A recent National Safety Council survey found that 80% of Indiana employers reported workplace issues related to employee use of prescription opioids. And Indiana’s Department of Child Services reports that the number of children in foster care has risen dramatically due in large part to the opioid crisis. In […]

There’s a growing body of evidence that Hoosier students are falling behind in competing in the 21st century knowledge economy. The most recent scores on ISTEP+ tests show the number of schools rated “F” on Indiana’s A- through-F grading system doubled. This comes under more rigorous standardized tests, which nearly two thirds of Indiana 10th graders failed to pass in math, and more than four in ten failed to pass in English Language Arts or science. An international benchmarking exam reflects similarly dismal outcomes nationwide. The Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which is administered to more than a half-million 15-year-olds in developed and developing countries around the globe, […]