Education: State buys into 'New Tech' approach

There aren’t any bells. Students don’t have to smuggle their cell phones into the classroom. Laptops sit atop the desks. Rows of lockers don’t line the halls; instead students leave their belongings at their desks.

“Our vision statement says that we should be a revolutionary path for education, and we truly believe that,” said Mike Reed, principal at charter school Columbus Signature Academy, one of Indiana’s 16 New Technology high schools. “Our goal is to not look or act like a high school. Instead it is more like a workplace.”

The New Tech approach is just one of many innovative methods being tried by Hoosier educators and those across the country to help a beleaguered public education system.