EVANSVILLE — B.J. Watts has done it again.
Watts, a veteran teacher, coach and administrator of 23 years with the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., has been appointed for the fourth time — by a fourth Indiana governor — to the State Board of Education. Watts was first appointed to the board in 2011 by then-Gov. Mitch Daniels. Subsequent appointments to four-year terms came from Governors Mike Pence, Eric Holcomb, and now, Mike Braun.
In other ways, the former Evansville City Council member and University of Southern Indiana graduate has carved a path on the board that sets him apart from its other 10 members.
Watts is the longest-serving member in the history of the State Board of Education. He’s the only board member who has served as its chair who was not Indiana’s elected superintendent of public instruction or appointed secretary of education.
The board chairmanship, Watts proudly notes, is a position voted on by board members themselves. Traditionally the state’s top education official is the board chair, but in 2017, then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick opted not to assume the task.
Watts is still an employee of EVSC, serving as executive director of Opportunities through Partnerships that Transform and Inspire. He spoke to the Courier & Press about his tenure on the State Board of Education, singling out the state’s Graduation Pathways overhaul of graduation requirements that allows students to individualize their requirements in ways that comport with their future plans.
“No longer must all students fit into the same academic mold, but rather, they can choose the high school options that best meet their postsecondary needs and aspirations,” states the Pathways website.
What accomplishments on the state board are you particularly proud of?
The Graduation Pathways we created really kind of launched (Indiana’s) diploma changes as well as the accountability changes. There were so many, just random acts of dual credit. We aligned these pathways in core sequences to where the students were truly gaining courses of value and that were aligned. And that was always the goal. To give them something that had currency when they left us, which led to the diploma (requirement) changes, which is the biggest undertaking that we’ve had probably in two decades.
The goal there, which I think we accomplished, which has become a model for the country, was to free up a high school student’s course by removing some of those prescriptive electives. Like you have to take this course, you have to take this course — to give students time to kind of explore. The main goal was the work-based learning. We’ve seen that when you get out and you get to live this stuff and touch it and work with it, it truly lets that student know, is this what I want to do? Is this not what I want to do? Before they move on to higher education and go into their career, it kind of lets them test drive what they think they want their career to be.
What’s coming in the near future?
The diploma changes are really a big change for high schools, so the implementation of that is probably the biggest thing. And then working to align — because so much of what we built with this new diploma is dependent upon students having experiences within what they think they might want to do. So what does that look like? How can we work with our talent agencies? Because, you know, it’s an ask of an industry partner or business to bring in a 16-year-old or 17-year-old into their building. We understand that and respect that. We’re very fortunate in Evansville that a lot of our major partners have already made that move. So it’s a little bit of proof in the pudding for us, which is honestly an example for the state. We were really ahead of this. But it’s still a lift when you go to scale it to the number of students that we hope it starts to reach.
What does your presence on the State Board of Education mean for EVSC?
I’ll start with the fact that I’ve been appointed by four different governors, which is humbling. (Having the confidence of Governor Braun) means a lot to me, that they think you’re doing a good job. I do work hard at it. And I’m really blessed to be in a district like EVSC. (The board of education) covers so many different topics, it’s impossible to be an expert on all of them. But I have such a support network that I can go to within our district and ask when it may be something that I don’t deal with all the time and say, ‘OK what are going to be the unintended consequences of the things that we’re thinking about?’ Because in theory, a lot of times, things sound great. But when you go to put boots on the ground, it doesn’t always work. So having people to go to who are truly experts in their field within the EVSC makes my job a lot easier.
And, let’s be honest, most of the work in this state gets done inside (Interstate) 465. I’m a Southern Indiana common sense guy. So I do think that having that Southern Indiana voice on this board helps. And that the one thing I’ll say, is that the people I work with on the board are absolutely amazing. I can say that every decision that we make is truly based on what’s good for students. We want to help every school get better so they can better support every student. When you have that as your metric, things move in the right direction. And that comes from (Secretary of Education Katie Jenner’s) leadership. She’s really aggressive, but she’s very sensible. She wants to move fast because she wants a better situation for students, and that’s everyone’s goal.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville’s B.J. Watts talks education in Indiana
Reporting by Thomas B. Langhorne, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
