This brilliant presentation by Public Impact connects the dots between education reform and economic development in Rhode Island. There is no other single thing that will have a greater impact on Rhode Island’s long term economic development than turning around our state’s under-performing K-12 school system. Here’s why:
Cost of RI-MA Achievement Gap: $2.1 Billion
Published by December 1st, 2009 in Economic Development and Great Leadership. 0 CommentsCommissioner Gist Ends Seniority-Based Teacher Assignment
Published by October 23rd, 2009 in Great Leadership, RIDE, Race to the Top, Teacher Effectiveness and Teacher Quality. 0 CommentsIn a letter to all superintendents, Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist has told districts to end all teacher assignments that are based solely on seniority, and the Department of Education issued a press release announcing the end of seniority-based teacher assignment in Rhode Island. Gist told all superintendents “to ensure that nothing in any collective-bargaining agreement prevents your district from assigning staff based on a set of performance criteria and on student need rather than by strict seniority.”
It seems like common sense that we should assign teachers to classrooms based on who is best suited for the job, rather than simply seniority alone, with no consideration of a teacher’s performance or area of expertise. Assignment and hiring of teachers based exclusively on seniority is not in the best interests of kids, it’s that simple.
This move also signals how serious Rhode Island is about its education reform agenda under Commissioner Gist’s leadership, as we work to win the Obama administration’s Race to the Top, which has singled out efforts like this one as important in distinguishing our state to win.
Sadly, the Providence Journal reports Rhode Island union bosses want to block this education reform in court.
It’s the school, stupid.
Published by September 23rd, 2009 in Boston, Charter Schools, Mayoral Academies, New York, School Choice and Uncategorized. 1 CommentA study by Stanford University’s Caroline Hoxby released this week is creating a lot of buzz in the education world. Hoxby compared the student achievement data from kids who entered charter school lotteries in New York City and “won” admittance against the data from students who entered those same lotteries and “lost” thereby remaining in NYC’s traditional public schools.
The NY Times reports here: http://bit.ly/Ick7I and the full study is here: http://bit.ly/3EPkFG
This is the best, most scientifically valid way to measure the impact charter schools are having on student achievement. And as with a similar study of Boston Public Schools by Harvard and MIT researchers - http://bit.ly/13kCxX - the findings are dramatic.
One important effect of these studies is that they put the lie to the standard argument that high performing charter schools like the Democracy Prep schools in NYC and now in Rhode Island outperform traditional public schools because they are “creaming off the top” a district’s best students or because these students’ parents are more engaged in their children’s academic lives, as evidenced by their decision to fill out a charter school enrollment application.
I have always thought that suggesting that their involvement is the deciding factor in their child’s school success is insulting to parents. Does anyone doubt that our state is home to thousands of high school dropouts whose parents wanted the best for their kids and would gladly have filled out a one page application to enroll them in a much higher performing free public school if they had had that option??
Parent engagement is important. But the point of these studies is that such engagement needs to be reciprocated by a great school where the adults in the building are completely and relentlessly engaged in a child’s educational life. Every child in Rhode Island deserves that kind of public school.
Fees for Sports: Not So Fast
Published by August 10th, 2009 in High Schools and School Athletics. 0 CommentsRecently the Commissioner of Education issued an advisory opinion on whether school districts may charge fees to students and their families to participate in sports. The short answer: such fees “violate a fundamental principle of Rhode Island school administration by interposing an obstacle against free attendance and by discriminating against the boy or girl who does not have a dollar, and the boy or girl who cannot afford to risk a dollar. It amounts to a retroaction to conditions prevailing forty years ago, and introduces anew one of the greatest evils of the public school system.”
If that language sounds a little odd, it’s because it was first written by the Rhode Island Board of Education in 1917! The recent advisory opinion is consistent with the 1917 report: no fees for public school. Click here to read the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education’s advisory opinion on fees for school sports (”pay to play”).
Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley Holds Lottery
Published by July 7th, 2009 in Central Falls, Charter Schools, Cumberland, Great Leadership, Lincoln, Mayoral Academies, Mayors, No Excuses and Pawtucket. 0 CommentsThe Valley Breeze reports that Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley held their admissions lottery: “… the college class of 2026 took off in a new direction Tuesday evening at the Blackstone River Theatre. They were the lucky ones whose names were pulled from brass bingo drums during a lottery used to fill the first-ever class of the Rhode Island Mayoral Academies called Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley.”
Faces of Hope: The Assaf family at the DPBV admissions lottery (Photo credit: Valley Breeze)
The school principal, Jeremy Chiappetta, is hard at work hiring for 8 open teaching positions, which have attracted more than 110 applicants so far, and pay more than the district (see the job posts for the teaching positions). You can follow Principal Chiappetta on Twitter.
Commissioner Gist Op-Ed: Let’s make R.I. schools best in America
Published by July 7th, 2009 in Great Leadership, RIDE and Race to the Top. 0 CommentsGlad to see the Providence Journal publish Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist’s opening op-ed calling for Rhode Island to have the best schools in America. An excerpt:
Late last month, the U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, called upon all educators to “behave differently” and to “move outside our comfort zones” so as to create the best educational opportunities for all learners. I agree. When faced with difficult decisions, we must have the courage to do what’s best for students, even when that may not be easy or expedient.
We must have great resolve to tear down the barriers to an equal opportunity for every child to succeed. We must take action to keep more students in school and to prepare them to graduate ready for college and success in the workplace. We must do more to make our classrooms challenging for children, to engage our students in such a way that they cannot wait to see what they can accomplish in school every day.
In recent weeks you may have heard about the federal Race to the Top program, which will reward states willing to accelerate the pace of educational improvement. I strongly believe that Rhode Island can win this race to the top, and we’re off to a great start. But this race is not a sprint — it’s a marathon. The road ahead requires fresh thinking, tenacity, and determination. Most of all, it will require that every Rhode Islander share the belief that, if we work together, Rhode Island can have America’s best public schools.
For more, read all of Commissioner Gist’s op-ed. You can also follow Commissioner Gist on Twitter!
Response to South County Independent Editorial
Published by July 7th, 2009 in Charter Schools, Rural Schools and South County. 0 CommentsLast week, the South County Independent publishers attacked charter schools in their editorial pages as “an experiment for the few.” This week, they published a response letter to the editor from Angus Davis in defense of charter schools. Their original editorial demonstrated a failure to grasp the facts at issue (they thought the moratorium was still in place, when in fact the law expired last year, and they said that charter schools are “private schools,” which is untrue, etc.). More importantly, the editorial reflects a disconnect from the people of South County, who are unique among Rhode Island suburban communities in that they have access to two high quality public charter schools: Kingston Hill Academy and Compass Charter School. In fact, earlier this year the Providence Journal profiled South County families struggling to find better educational options for their children: “Even in South Kingstown, a district with high-performing schools, charters hold an attraction for many parents.”
This South County family hopes their child can attend the local public charter school (Photo credit: Providence Journal)
Here’s a video about the Compass Charter School, a public charter school like those the South County Independent criticized in its editorial that the Providence Journal says “is bursting at the seams” due to overwhelming parent demand from South Country parents:
Most inaccurate of all was the South County Independent’s claim that public charter schools “siphon away students” from the traditional district schools. As Angus writes in his letter to the editor defending charters, “Your editorial blames public charter schools for ’siphoning away students.’ That’s like saying we should blame Honda for taking customers away from General Motors. In a free society, if districts lose enrollment because families are unsatisfied, that should indicate a problem with the district, not with the better option they seek out.”
Recent Comments