Education
The idea of a tiered diploma system is causing much teeth-gnashing in Tiverton and elsewhere. My Patch column, this week, explains the effect of the proposal and points out that a related topic really ought to be the controversy to which every School Committee meeting is dedicated: In light of that change, a cynic (or,…
As Ed Fitzpatrick wrote about last week, Governor Chafee is taking a “thoughtful pause” on considering whether or not Rhode Island should allow more charter schools to open up. According to Chafee spokesman Mike Trainor, the Governor …strongly believes Rhode Island needs a deep and healthy debate on the issue of charter schools because it…
Exclusively in today’s GoLocalProv: … The future of Education Commissioner Deborah Gist remains unclear under Governor Lincoln Chafee, given their very public differences over such issues as charter schools. Fox readily admits that Gist is a controversial figure—which is just what he says Rhode Island needs. “I think she’s tackling some sensitive issues, but I…
Marc’s post about “teaching to the test” reminds me of a peculiar line of reasoning that emerged when the Board of Regents heard from Rhode Islanders regarding a proposed tiered diploma system: Ken Fish, who worked at the state Department of Education and helped to develop the 2003 regulations, lashed out at the plan to…
The idea of “teaching to the test” is something that is viewed undesirable by just about everyone. But a new study shows that there may be something to it. The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they…
For several generations, Little Compton, RI, has been practicing a community school choice by sending its teenagers elsewhere for high school. The obvious choice should be Tiverton, just over an indistinguishable border, but at least since the ’70s, the kids of LC have been traveling to Aquidneck Island. My Patch column, this week, looks at…
Responding to last-week’s post about his press release critical of Education Commissioner Deborah Gist for not cracking down on the Democracy Prep charter school in Cumberland on the matter of uncertified teachers, state senator James Sheehan (D, Narragansett, North Kingstown) writes: Please allow me to explain why certification matters. First, the notion that the problem…
We may look back at the fifth day of January as the first instance of Education Commissioner Deborah Gist’s changed work environment, thanks to a press release by Sen. James Sheehan (D, Narragansett, North Kingstown): “If good teachers are the most important element to education, the Department of Education shouldn’t allow uncertified individuals to teach…
I’ve mentioned The American Enterprise Institute’s Rick Hess before and how he has a lot of interesting and, to my mind, good things to say about education reform. In short, if you want to stay up on the current EdReform movement, Hess is a good resource. For instance, he has recently explained how school reformers…
Yesterday, Jim Hummel, filling in for WPRO’s Dan Yorke, played excerpts from his interview, to be released in Tuesday’s Hummel Report, with Governor-Elect Chafee. In it, the gov-elect confirms that he remains steadfastly non-committal about the continued tenure of Ed Commissioner, Deborah Gist. In his “Politics As Usual” column a couple of days earlier, the…