EDITORIAL: No Time for Happy Spin, RI’s Children Are Failing

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL: No Time for Happy Spin, RI’s Children Are Failing

RI Education Commissioner Infante-Green PHOTO: GoLocal
The spinmeisters in Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee’s and Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green’s offices have been pitching to the media that this year’s RICAS scores were good news.

Infante-Green, in a press call with reporters last Tuesday, kept talking about the “momentum” and that Rhode Island’s scores were up over last year.

Rhode Island’s scores were up 2% in English Language Arts and 2.7% in math over last year and are still behind the 2019 RICAS scores.

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COVID has been a factor for all the states, and no one has momentum, especially Rhode Island. Dare to criticize the lack of improvement and the administration, and the excuses are teed up.

If your child goes to school in Providence, Newport, West Warwick, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, and in some other districts and some charter schools —  85-90% of the students are not meeting or only partially meeting the standards for math or English Language Arts.

Warwick is not much better. North Providence is no prize. In Johnston, more than 70% of the students didn’t meet expectations or only partially met expectations on ELA, and nearly 80% missed on math.

East Providence is in the red — more than 60% fail to fully meet expectations in ELA and math. Cranston is the same.

Let’s say that, again, the vast majority of kids are not meeting expectations in either ELA or math. Not just in Providence and Central Falls, but in cities and towns across the state, the children are not meeting expectations.

It is time to drink a reality serum. The fact is that so many of our schools are simply not performing. Our students are missing out on a quality education.

And, we will never get it right until we transform our perspective. Infante-Green, today in her Commissioner’s Memo to Friends of Education, wrote: "Significant growth in math proficiency with an increase of 2.7 percentage points and 2 percentage points in ELA.”

If significant growth is 2% and we have not even rebounded to the 2019 levels, god help us.

Infante-Green has perfected a pathway to mediocracy. At this rate it will take a few more years to get back to 2019 levels -- results that drew criticism from most every constituency.

There is a real harm in this false narrative.

If the standard is a 2% improvement annually, those in first grade in all urban schools and many suburban schools will still be labeled as “failed to meet expectations” as seniors, too.

Can we do better?

SEE ALL THE NUMBERS BELOW


RICAS Scores for Each School District 2022-2023

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