“Game-Changing” Education Bills to be Unveiled By Legislative Leadership

“Game-Changing” Education Bills to be Unveiled By Legislative Leadership

Legislation will be unveiled in the coming week in Rhode Island that one bill sponsor is calling “game-changing,” as the state looks to Massachusetts’ example to improve education outcomes -- following a year in which Rhode Island students performed 17-20% worse than their Massachusetts counterparts on the new statewide assessments. 

The package of bills as proposed would implement a statewide curriculum; the ability for schools — not school committees — to hire; fast-tracking of the principal certification process; and giving greater authority for the state to intervene in failings schools.

GoLocalProv.com spoke with Representative Gregg Amore — a longtime educator and now Athletic Director for the East Providence School Department — about the package of legislative proposals. 

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The announcement will come the heels of major education news in the state, after Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo announced on Tuesday a new major initiative to review Providence schools — a process that may ultimately lead a state takeover.

Curriculum, School Agency, RIDE Involvement — and More

Amore said that the press conference is expected later this week or early next week — and that there are “multiple bills” in the package.  

“The first one, that's already hit the committee process -- it's the statewide, unified curriculum,” said Amore. “What it is, is a framework -  a definitive framework that [the Rhode Island Department of Education] will develop and everyone will use to mirror.”

“For the actual curriculum itself that the districts will follow, there will be a menu of choices of appropriate curricula aligned with common core standards and RICAS,” said Amore. “That will also have an effect of teacher prep at RIC and URI -- they'll have to align their curricula with that.”

VIDEO: Representative McNamara on Need for Statewide Education Standards on LIVE

“Piece two is the school-based management model,” said Amore. “School committees will give up their power to hire. The hiring process, [school committees] will still budget for that, but the hiring process will be school-based. The principal and school improvement team will get together to identify what they need in the day to day operations.”

Amore addressed the additional responsibility for school principals. 

“[Principals'] 'full plates' are sometimes caused by top-down initiatives that they would prefer not to deal with. Most principals we discussed this with -- and principals in Massachusetts --  think this is a game changer,” said Amore. “They know the heartbeat and pulse of the school. The school improvement team is already in statute, we just expand its powers. [The teams] are educators, representatives from the PTA, and someone from outside in the community, likely the business community, who get together to talk about how the school will be managed. It will be scheduling, common planning time — those have been traditionally top-down.”

“This won't take effect upon passage. We'll give RIDE and principals some time to prepare. But it gives them budgeting power. There won't be a curriculum director that comes in and says to implement a particular thing. The cookie cutter approach hasn't worked,” said Amore. “Everyone I talked with on the Massachusetts side said this works. We have quite a few districts that do this [already], but this would be statutory.”

Amore also spoke to intervention in low-performing schools — and an accelerated process to certify principals. 

“There's intervention language for lower-performing schools based on the Massachusetts intervention model.  The district and RIDE will work together to turn schools around through various interventions,” said Amore.  “Right now, RIDE is basically a regulatory agency and a compliance agency following state and federal laws. This envisions an active RIDE that works one and one with districts to implement changes to improve schools, and provide resources and the ability to have extra hands on board. This will be a RIDE and district collaboration -- whether or not RIDE comes is in school performance data.”

“We'll also be introducing fast-tracking principal certification. Our capacity is currently limited and our model is antiquated. It's not aligned with how the private sector recognizes and facilitates leadership,” said Amore. 

Amore said that the other primary bill sponsors who will be introducing the slate of legislation include Representative Joseph McNamara and Senators Hannah Gallo and Ryan Pearson.