R.I. Foundation committee says “stay the course” on education

PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island Foundation is committing $1 million to public education, putting its money behind a new report that calls on Rhode Island to “stay the course” in holding students to high standards.

The foundation on Thursday released a report, the product of an 18-month study by a team of educators, nonprofit organization leaders and business executives, that sets broad goals for improving public education in Rhode Island.

Many of the recommendations — continuing rigorous testing, improving teacher preparation, investing principals with more authority — are not new.

A 2009 study by The Rhode Island Urban Education Task Force raised some of the same issues, as did subsequent reports in 2016 and 2019 by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

Neil Steinberg, executive director of the R.I. Foundation, promised that this report, unlike some of the others, will not sit on a shelf.

“This is a special moment in time, one that’s unique in my experience” he said Tuesday.

Rhode Island, he said, has hired a new education commissioner, an innovative leader, the Providence schools are poised for a complete reboot and voters have approved $250 million to rebuild the state’s crumbling schools.

“Show me another signature page like this one,” Steinberg said, adding that each one of the committee members has committed to making the recommendations come to fruition.

The list includes Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count, Barbara Cottam, chair of the Rhode Island Board of Education, Frank Flynn, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, Tom Giordano, executive director of the Partnership for Rhode Island and state education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green.

The recommendations, however, are broad. They do not spell out, for example, how Rhode Island will recruit more teachers of color or or how the state will recruit teachers for hard-to-fill subjects.

Steinberg said the recommendations are designed to chart a course, not identify an action plan.

“What the report has done is empowered people in the room to figure out solutions,” Giordano said. “Everyone is the room is committed to it. I’m talking to a number of people to achieve some of those goals.”

“This report isn’t about reinventing the wheel or the new fad of the moment,” said Josh Block, spokesman for Gov. Gina Raimondo. “The RICAS results were a wake-up call to our state. This report builds on the momentum from that moment, getting everyone on the same page and pushing us to collectively stay the course on a long-term vision for education in Rhode Island.”

RICAS stands for the Rhode Island Common Assessment System, the state’s new standardized test.

The report includes a recommendation to amend the Rhode Island Constitution to guarantee students the right to an education, a cause long championed by Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees.

Gary Sasse, executive director of the Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership at Bryant University, who was not a committee member, said that while the report rightfully emphasizes staying the course, education leaders must now come up with a plan to implement the recommendations, including a cost analysis.

“This absolutely requires public funding that is stable, enhanced and equitably distributed,” he said. “A candid discussion of taxes needed to pay the bill is essential to move forward.”

— lborg@providencejournal.com

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