NEW: PARCC Opt-Out Legislation to be Heard in House Committee on Wednesday
GoLocalProv News Team
NEW: PARCC Opt-Out Legislation to be Heard in House Committee on Wednesday
The legislation introduced by Rep. Gregg Amore (D-East Providence), calls on the Commissioner of Education to create an opt-out procedure and to provide to each school in Rhode Island a standardized form that can be sent to parents or guardians informing them of their opt-out rights.
On March 17, GoLocalProv reported on the PARCC opt out controversy. Jean Lehane, a parent and organizer of the group "Stop the Common Core" on Facebook who is opposed to the PARCC test told GoLocalProv, "[We are] very hopeful that the state of Rhode Island will not only change approach but very much hoping they will abandon the PARCC tests as 12 states (2 more pending - out of a total 24) have done," said Lehane. "We are not adverse to assessments. It's just we would rather have assessments done by our children's own teachers in their own classrooms."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"RIDE fully expects that all eligible students will participate in state assessments, which are an integral part of the process of education in Rhode Island public schools. There is no formal procedure for parents to remove their children from participation in any school activity – including state assessments," RIDE Spokesperson Elliot Krieger told GoLocalProv on March 17. "RIDE will not recognize any attempt to refuse participation in the state assessment, but we also understand that it is not possible to compel a student to actually participate in taking any exam (or in any school activity)."
“Parents have legitimate concerns regarding the nearly 11 hours of testing their children will encounter, combined with additional hours of test preparation,” said Representative Amore.
“Moreover, the idea that individual districts can make this test a graduation requirement or apply it to academic records is absurd," added Amore.
The legislation also provides that no student will have his or her academic record adversely affected for not participating in PARCC.
Who Could Be RI's Next Education Commissioner?
Clay Pell
The not-so-dark horse who might be in consideration for Gist's spot (or the Board of Education's Eva Mancuso's) could be Raimondo's primary opponent Clay Pell, who comes from the education policy world at the federal level -- he was Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Education.
Given the millions Pell poured into his own campaign -- as well as how politics might have played out to give Gina the edge over opponent Allan Fung -- Pell might be well-positioned to maintain his profile in Rhode Island as he more than likely might be taking a look towards another run for higher offfice soon.
Susan Lusi
Current Providence Schools Superintendent Susan Lusi has a resume that includes having been Superintendent in Portsmouth, Chief of Staff for the Providence Public Schools -- and as Assistant Commissioner at the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Lusi has served as a consultant to RIDE, as well as groups such as the LAB at Brown, Education Resource Strategies, The Council of Chief State School Officers, and the Learning First Alliance. Lusi has a Ph.D. and Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University, as well as a MAT in social studies and an AB in economics from Brown University. Lusi could well be considered for the call up to the state's top education post.
Tom Brady
Lusi's predecessor in the Providence Public Schoools Brady the helm in 2011 after serving for three years, and has worked in education consulting and served as Director of the Department of Defense Educational Activity, over seeing all Defense Department K-12 schools, both stateside and overseas -- 191 schools in 14 districts, serving more than 82,000 students. A return to RI to fill Gist's shoes would be step up the education ladder in the state should Brady be in consideration -- and have the interest returning to RI.
Angela Romans
Providence Mayor Taveras' former education advisor, who has been at Brown's Annenberg Institute, while in the city helped secure over $5 million in education grant funding from local, regional and national public and private sources for the city and served as a tri-chair of the Mayor’s Children and Youth Cabinet (CYC).
Prior to working in city government, Romans served as New England Network manager at Diploma Plus, Inc., a Boston-based, national organization that in partnership with school districts and communities, designs schools and programs to improve the academic results of predominately urban, African-American and/or Hispanic youth.
Dave Abbott
As the Deputy Commissioner at RIDE, Abbott has had to fill the shoes of Gist at meetings and events many times -- and could probably quite easily make the move up given his working knowledge of the office.
Jennifer Wood
Lt. Governor Roberts' Chief of Staff has an extensive background -- and interest -- in education, serving as Chief of Staff and legal counsel for RIDE for 9 years, and general counsel for NEARI before that. Roberts was an instrumental supporter of Raimondo's during the campaign.
