Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. While Indiana has many proud accomplishments, the health of our state’s population is not one. According to United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings, Indiana is in the bottom-third of states for overall health – at 39th. And a recent Gallup study on well-being ranks our state at 47th. What are the primary drivers of our poor health rankings? First and foremost: tobacco use, as evidenced by our state’s 20.6% smoking rate. Second is addiction to prescription pain killers and heroin use – collectively referred to as “opioid use disorder.” These challenges might seem daunting, but we know […]

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, […]