Urban districts score quality 'agenda' for improvement

CENTRAL FALLS - After years of talk, Rhode Island's urban school districts should finally have the structure in place for long-term improvement.

That was the message Tuesday from members of the Rhode Island Urban Education Task Force, a diverse group of educators and community members commissioned by Gov. Donald Carcieri last year to study how to improve urban education in the state.

Led by task force Chairman Warren Simmons, executive director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, members of the panel have come up with a plan that will focus on providing new educational opportunities for students from lower scoring urban communities.

As part of their final report titled "Building Our Future: An Agenda for Quality Urban Education in Rhode Island," members are also recommending more stringent evaluation processes for teachers, suggesting that public schools, charter schools, and mayoral academies work as one toward more innovative policies, and that school officials from the state's five urban districts work corroboratively on key initiatives.

Pre-school and after-school programs, some of which are already in place, will be the key to improving education standards in the urban districts, said Simmons.

State and local leaders claimed that, unlike some recommendations put forth by past commissions, the ones detailed Tuesday have the "momentum, enthusiasm, and excitement," according to Carcieri, along with the support from a number of parties, needed to keep them going.

"I don't want another plan that's just going to sit on the shelf," said Carcieri. He indicated that while urban schools are often criticized for under-performing, some of the greatest educational gains of the past few years have happened in urban elementary schools despite challenging circumstances.

Seven key improvement recommendations were set forth by Simmons, who spoke in front of a crowd of educators and municipal officials at Central Falls High School on Tuesday.

They are:

* To launch a high-quality pre-kindergarten program, starting with the pilot program already begun this year and advancing to a full implementation that utilizes a variety of avenues for instruction, including childcare programs, schools, and Head Start;

* To implement a comprehensive system of supports for literacy for students in kindergarten through 3rd grade, with a focus on English language learners;

* To expand learning time through a variety of partnerships;

* To create multiple educational "pathways" for students most at risk for dropping out utilizing partnerships with adult education programs, access to AP courses, and courses offered at non-traditional times;

* To work toward a collaborative system between districts to improve educator quality and to require the regular evaluation of teachers;

* To pair Rhode Island's charter schools and mayoral academies with public school districts to develop the infrastructure and policies that will support innovation in the schools;

* And to expand educator collaboration between urban districts through an Urban Education Consortium and expanding the current Research Collaborative.

"It makes no sense for five districts to work on curriculum separately or to work on assessment separately," said Simmons.

The recommendations for improved student performance will be implemented by energetic Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist in the five urban districts of Woonsocket, Providence, Central Falls, Pawtucket, and Newport.

Gist said Tuesday that her two main goals as commissioner are ones that fit in perfectly with the task force recommendations - to "ensure educator excellence," and to "accelerate all schools toward greatness."

"I am completely confident that Rhode Island's education (system) is going to be the best in the country and the envy of the world," the former two-time "teacher of the year" in two different districts told those in attendance.

All who spoke Tuesday emphasized their desire to expand on the good things that are already happening in urban school districts, schools many say are at a disadvantage to the suburban schools both in funding for special education and in having a higher number of non-English-speaking learners.

Students at Rhode Island's urban schools continue to show improvement on a variety of tests, said Carcieri, and the state was one of only four in the country to improve this year on National Assessment of Educational Progress tests. Two of those four states were New Hampshire and Vermont, both of which administer stringent New England Common Assessment Program testing, according to Carcieri.

Simmons said Tuesday that the task force he led did not include the controversial "fair funding formula" being pushed for by many urban educators because an agenda for improvement was needed first.

"To get the public behind the idea of a statewide funding formula, we need an agenda," he said.

Many believe that a statewide funding formula would help urban districts gain the resources they need to better fulfill state education requirements - and thus improve test scores that are traditionally far lower than those achieved in suburban communities.

Carcieri said that, other than funding already approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly, potentially followed by more in the future, state and local officials are also ready to make a push for outside funding sources on both the national and local level to make the initiatives recommended Tuesday a reality.

To view the 14-page executive summary from the Rhode Island Urban Education Task Force, or to read the commission's full report, visit www.valleybreeze.com and click on this story.