Education

A child with hands over face.

McKee’s Learn 365 RI education initiative may justify a response of Turn 180.

By Justin Katz | April 13, 2023 |

Whether it’s peculiar or not (given his governance style) the most-conspicuous thing about the Learn 365 RI initiative — for which Democrat Governor Dan McKee has sought (and received) a PR boost — is how undefined it is.  There’s some effort to get municipalities to commit to something, although what that may be isn’t clear. …

A man holds a red smoke signal on ice

Politics This Week: The Insiders’ Clear Messages

By Justin Katz | March 14, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz interpret the unmistakable messages of RI insiders’ actions.

A disintegrating apple in a child's hand

Education reforms are meaningless in RI unless they include accountability.

By Justin Katz | March 8, 2023 |

An omission in Asher Lehrer-Small’s recent article about reforms spearheaded by the state Department of Education puts a spotlight on the reason I’m skeptical and fear the changes are yet another cover-up of incompetence that will put Ocean State students even farther behind.  The reasonable hook is this head-scratching finding of a problem that should…

Actors pose in front of a curtain

Politics This Week: Things Stated and Unstated in RI Politics

By Justin Katz | March 6, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss things RI insiders do and don’t want the public to think about.

A child with hands over face.

Funny, the difference in misinformation analysis of parents and labor unions.

By Justin Katz | March 6, 2023 |

If mainstream media analysts and college professors weren’t overwhelmingly true believers of the Left, they could find fertile ground for analysis and lessons in the interaction of media, labor unions, and parents when it comes to Rhode Island schools.  Case study 1 comes in the form of an article by Alexa Gagosz of the Boston Globe,…

Crazy Eggs

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Crazy Activists in Schools and the State House

By Justin Katz | February 5, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the madness permeating our state.

Liquid pouring into an invisible glass

Politics This Week with John DePetro: The Defining Problem (and Opportunity) of RI

By Justin Katz | January 25, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz find evidence of the missing ingredient in RI politics everywhere.

A toy school bus

The underlying problem in education is depressingly difficult to repair.

By Justin Katz | January 10, 2023 |

Perhaps my favorite moment in all of music ever comes in the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  The music is a bouncy march, and in the libretto, the singers are proclaiming an intent to take paradise by storm, like “a victor.”  The mood changes suddenly, however, and I’ve always thought it a deliberate statement…

Machine Elements by Fernand Leger

Politics This Week with John DePetro: RI as Narrative Machine

By Justin Katz | January 9, 2023 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz pick apart the false image the establishment presents of the Ocean State.

A shadowy man on the phone

Keep the RI Foundation off the pedestal.

By Justin Katz | December 22, 2022 |

At the moment, it appears to be simply talk, but this is a concerning idea for Democrat Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio to float: Ruggerio floated an outside-the-box idea for the state takeover of Providence schools: He wants to work with the Rhode Island Foundation, the state’s largest philanthropic organization, to see if it…