Governor McKee Has a Lot to Say About the Future of RI’s Education
GoLocalProv News Team and Josh Fenton
Governor McKee Has a Lot to Say About the Future of RI’s Education
McKee will challenge Rhode Islanders to join the collaboration to raise test scores to meet and exceed the scores in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
He has set the bar high — the goal must be achieved by 2030 — just seven years away.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMassachusetts consistently ranks as having the best school system in America. Rhode Island does not.
The Commonwealth ranks the highest for public schools across a range of rankings. “The quality of education is exceptional, and safety is also high. It ranked highest in math and reading test scores out of all states. Students here also achieved the highest median ACT score,” states one financial publication.
Another study ranks Massachusetts first and Rhode Island 20th.
Of the 6.8 million people who call the Bay State home, 52.4% are college-educated — tops in the nation.
But this battle for education supremacy will be based on the now agreed upon benchmark test score — RICAS v. MCAS.
There are two critical components to McKee’s strategy that will be rolled out this week in detail — transforming K-12 learning from 180 days to 365 and, as a result, adding a million new hours of learning each year.
“The goal is to have education as the top priority in every household in Rhode Island,” said McKee.
McKee is the ultimate “anti-Gina” in his approach — GoLocal's words, not McKee's. His approach to solving problems versus his predecessor, former Governor Gina Raimondo, is entirely different. She was top-down in policy-making, and McKee has been more inclusive, especially in including the mayors around Rhode Island.
Nothing demonstrated the difference more clearly than McKee’s vaccination program, which took Rhode Island from worst to first.
When asked how he will transform Rhode Island's education system, he offered a very McKee approach — he sees the key to success as the engagement of community organizations, teachers, mayors, and a complete immersion of the goal into every aspect of Rhode Island life.
“You can’t get from 180 days of learning to 365 without the mayors. With the mayor’s involvement, you can reach out to every kid in Rhode Island,” said McKee.
Critical to this transformation “is getting every family to think about education and learning every day,” said McKee. “It's a culture change.”
“My job is to change the culture and to create more opportunities,” said McKee.
McKee dismissed naysayers. He said he has been meeting with the mayors, unions, college president, business interests, educators, and non-profit leaders for months. He adds, “Everything is new here. It is a framework that will actually work.”
McKee chides others — groups with plans that live on a shelf. “I am so tired of the fake hustle,” said McKee.
1 Million Additional Hours of Learning
Critical to expanding learning beyond the schools across the state, McKee sees local community organizations as being key, and will provide grants to organizations to help bolster their resources to expand existing programs and add new learning opportunities. These additional resources will help to provide additional learning experiences in every community.
Governor with the Deepest Education Experience Creating the Mayoral Academies
While many governors over the decades have talked about improving Rhode Island schools, it always seems to be just one of their priorities. For McKee, transforming the culture of learning is his priority.
McKee, the former Mayor of Cumberland and the innovator who sparked the creation of the Mayoral Academies, has a 20-year record on education.
He sees that the success of this initiative will be rooted in the notion that "the accountability is spread out." McKee says this has to be more than just in-school learning. "We have eight testing cycles to be able to measure and achieve our goals," said McKee.