Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. A well-educated population is critical to the vitality of Indianapolis and the continuing global competitiveness of the city and our state. Unfortunately, too many K-12 students in Indianapolis do not demonstrate proficiency in core academic subjects such as math, science and reading. In 2019, for example, only 28 percent of Marion County 3rd through 8th graders earned a passing score on both the math and English language arts sections of the statewide assessment, ILEARN. In addition, employers report that they continue to struggle to identify a sufficient supply of skilled talent to fill available job openings. In […]

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. As opioids and tobacco continue to claim Hoosier lives, many are looking toward K-12 school-based prevention programs to stem the tide. One of the most well-known prevention programs is Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E. At its height, D.A.R.E. was implemented across the world, with more than $750 million spent on the program annually. But study after study has found little evidence for the impacts of D.A.R.E. on drug use. This is a common problem: Keeping kids off drugs and alcohol is not easy. As a result, not every intervention works. The good news is […]