Education

The Most Basic Requirements

By Justin Katz | February 19, 2008 |

In a letter to the editor of the Sakonnet Times (not online), Tiverton High School physics and chemistry teacher Richard Bernardo offers general encouragement to everybody involved in the contract disputes to “roll[] up [their] sleeves and [get] the job done.” In light of news released since Mr. Bernardo penned his letter, this part sticks…

Re: RI School Performance

By Justin Katz | February 15, 2008 |

My word won’t be taken on this, but I would love to learn that impressions of Rhode Island’s public education are unjustifiably poor. The ax that I grind is with the amount that we pay for the results that we get, and mathematics proficiency of 50% or less is simply not acceptable in a state…

RI School Performance – Getting Past Simple Categories

By Marc Comtois | February 14, 2008 |

Learning First Alliance/Rhode Island is out with a report (h/t) in which they try to explain that the simple categories used to describe the progress (or lack thereof) of our schools are insufficient to the task. They have a point. Earlier this month, when digging into the latest reports on our state high schools, I…

Sharing the Pain in Tiverton

By Justin Katz | February 13, 2008 |

I don’t support residency requirements for such public employees as teachers. It’s nice to think that your children are being taught by your neighbors (as inaccurate as that characterization of fellow townspeople may be), but schools should find the best teachers they can, and teachers should be free to decide where to live. That said,…

Higher Ed Anathema

By Justin Katz | February 1, 2008 |

I’m sorry (dark times, and all), but I had to laugh. The student newspaper at URI, The Good 5¢ Cigar, has a story on decreasing state funding, and accompanying editorial contains this gem: University President Robert L. Carothers said that the administration will have to do “some creative thinking.” Has it really come down to…

Is an End to the Education Funding Formula Distraction Near?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | January 16, 2008 |

Commenter “Mike” points out a Jennifer D. Jordan article in today’s Projo that declares, if not dead, the idea of a statewide “funding formula” for education is now comatose…An unlikely coalition attempting to develop a statewide school-financing formula has broken apart just as the state grapples with a $600-million budget gap over two years, leaving…

Differences of What’s on the Table

By Justin Katz | January 14, 2008 |

Clarity on meaning is going to be absolutely crucial as competing visions are put forward to solve Rhode Island’s ills, and one pair of concepts that may have confusing overlaps in education policy is “statewide funding formula” versus a “statewide teacher contract.” The former phrase, as came out in my discussion yesterday with Representative Joe…

Education Week Survey – RI Results

By Marc Comtois | January 10, 2008 |

Dan Yorke reminded me about this story in today’s ProJo: Rhode Island has received mixed grades on the quality of its public education system, scoring poorly in two critical areas: student achievement and efforts to improve teacher quality, according to a national education magazine. Education Week’s “Quality Counts 2008” report card gave Rhode Island D’s…

Financial Reality Hits

By Justin Katz | January 8, 2008 |

Tiverton Superintendent Bill Rearick just handed out a budget packet. Here’s a key page: Obviously, the teachers’ increase is TBA and estimated. (Amy Mullen got up and asked how they can be considered if there’s no contract.) The bottom line is that, “as of January 8, 2008, the School Department is $149,011 over the spending…

Making a Difference in Education

By Justin Katz | January 8, 2008 |

Thomas Schmeling passes on a bit of information of which we’d all do well to take note: In December, I attended a meeting of the RI Board of Regents for Primary and Secondary Education. Parent/citizens were invited to comment on the question of how the teachers’ contracts affect public education. It was not a large…