Dear Teachers of Rhode Island, Many of you probably don’t realize that the hard work you’ve been doing for the past two months is not the norm throughout the country. You have led the way while other cities and states have been painfully slow in keeping students connected to school and to learning. Perhaps you… Continue reading A Letter of Thanks to the Teachers of Rhode Island
Any time there is energy in the Rhode Island legislature about substantive education reforms, there is reason to cheer just a little. God knows we haven’t been busting out the pom poms over our state’s student outcomes in decades—if ever—but the wake up call of last year’s RICAS results seems to have finally awoken the… Continue reading My Wish List for the Package of Education Reform Bills About to Be Unveiled
In April 2017 Rhode Island leaders in government and education came together to form a rare united front in support of the bold decision to adopt the same statewide test that Massachusetts uses for its annual testing. They called it MCAS; we would call it RICAS. Superintendents, school committees, union leaders, legislative leaders and even… Continue reading RICAS Results Are Major Wake-Up Call
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores are out today and the news for Rhode Island is not good. Often called the “nation’s report card,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics assessments are administered to a representative sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students in each state every two years. NAEP… Continue reading NAEP Scores Are a Major Wake Up Call for Little Rhody, Especially in Math
It turns out that one of Amazon’s considerations in deciding where to build it’s second headquarters—or HQ2— is the average SAT (or ACT) score of students in the cities on their list of potential options. Not only does it figure into their calculation of what the local talent pool will look like in the coming… Continue reading Hey Alexa, Do Test Scores Matter? Duh, Of Course They Do
While it’s not totally surprising that some members on my own town council are hesitant to embrace or welcome the children of families who can’t afford a single family home, it is disappointing to hear them speak of children as nothing more than dollars and cents for the school system. But that’s what a few… Continue reading Stop Hoarding Education and Embrace All Families
Ya todos nos hemos enterado de que nuestra Benny’s, nuestra tienda icono de Rhode Island, cierra todas sus tiendas después de 93 años. Viene ahora la nostalgia de la gente recordando sus salidas de la infancia para comprar una bicicleta o un trineo o alguna herramienta papá necesitaba. Pero como co-propietario de Benny’s Arnold Bromberg… Continue reading La Nostalgia No Sostiene Un Negocio Pero Sí Mantiene Abiertas Las Escuelas de Bajo Rendimiento
PARCC data is in and while the overall news isn’t good, there are some bright spots for sure including huge gains at some schools and far more students taking the SAT now that it’s free. Big shout out to all the schools that posted significant gains and/or are members of the elite club that Dan… Continue reading 2017 PARCC Results in RI: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By Rosemary Miner Halfway through my second month as an emergency certified science teacher at Nowell Leadership Academy, Executive Director Toby Shepherd asked me if I would be interested in keeping a journal to documented the experience. Overwhelmed with everything I had to learn just to teach the next day and all the things I… Continue reading My Year: Reflections of a Former Flight Surgeon on Her First Year of Teaching
These kids get only one shot at an education. – James Diossa Mayor James Diossa calls his community “the comeback city” and education plays a central role in that vision. In a city that is one mile by one mile and made up of predominantly Latino families, school choice has become part of the fabric… Continue reading Mayor James Diossa: Rhode Island’s Very Own Charter Champion
