Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) recently released its latest study on academic performance in Indianapolis schools. The study aims to answer an important question: How do charter schools and Innovation Network Schools (which are part of the school district but have full autonomy when it comes to curriculum, hiring, etc.) compare to traditional public schools in their effectiveness at raising student achievement? The results provide strong evidence that Indianapolis charters substantially raise performance—leading to more than 60 additional days of learning in English/language arts and more than 90 additional days of learning […]

Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. As part of our effort to prevent substance misuse among young people, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation today announced a $1.15 million investment to help 29 Marion County K-12 schools implement drug prevention programs. The five grant recipients are the Metropolitan School Districts (MSD) of Warren and Washington Townships and public charter schools Urban ACT Academy, Ignite Achievement Academy and Indianapolis Academy of Excellence. These grants are part of our Prevention Matters initiative, which the Foundation launched in January 2018 as a three-year effort to help Marion County schools identify, implement and sustain evidence-based substance use prevention programs. The […]

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. According to recently released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Indiana’s already high smoking rate has gotten worse, in contrast to declines in most other states. That is bad news for Hoosiers and our state’s economy. Smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death in the United States and takes a heavy toll on Indiana especially. An estimated 11,100 Hoosiers die each year from smoking, and an additional 1,400 nonsmokers die annually from exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking in Indiana also translates to $3.3 billion annually in healthcare costs and another […]