video: New Group: RI Schools Need to be Fundamentally Changed
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Poor Rhode Island students are falling behind their wealthier peers in the state and even behind their peers in other countries, warned a new education reform group which launched yesterday with a promise to help the Ocean State remake its public schools.
“Do you believe that all Rhode Island children can learn when taught by a great teacher in a great school?” said Maryellen Butke, executive director of the new group, the Rhode Island Campaign for Achievement Now, or RI-CAN. “If you answered that question with a resounding ‘Yes!’ then you are the newest member of America’s newest education reform movement.”
Poor RI students behind the nation and students in other countries
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RI-CAN released a report yesterday painting a stark and alarming picture of the state of the state’s education system. According to the report:
• only one third of Latino and African-American eighth graders are proficient in math
• 12 percent of low-income eighth graders can’t do eighth grade math and 14 percent of them can’t read at an eighth grade level
• Rhode Island is in the bottom third of all states in student achievement while the other New England states are in the top five
• poor Rhode Island students score below their peers in Cyprus and Moldova in math
“It is hard to read the facts presented in this research report about the low performance of Rhode Island students and not conclude that our schools need to fundamentally change,” Butke said.
Education Commissioner Gist an ‘ally’
The group outlined a broad set of principles that it said should be the basis of reform. Those include: allowing parents to choose which school their children attend; flexibility in school regulations to allow more innovation; and more accountability for teachers and other educators.
RI-CAN is starting out with a big advantage: the current education commissioner, Deborah Gist, has a similar approach to education reform. “In Rhode Island, we have somebody who is calling for the same reforms as we’re doing,” Butke told GoLocalProv. “We see her as a key ally—not that we might always agree or push harder.”
Under Gist’s tenure, the state has taken steps towards reform—passing a funding formula last year, lifting the cap on the number of charter schools, and adopting a new set of standards for curriculum. The state also recently won $75 million in the Race to the Top program.
“I think we’re in an amazing place in Rhode Island and I think we just have the momentum going forward,” Butke said. “Our goal would be to keep the momentum going.” Beyond that, she said the group hopes to build a permanent movement for education reform in Rhode Island and be a public voice for students and parents.
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