board of ed – RI Future

March 3, 2014March 3, 2014

Eva Mancuso stifles debate, wonders why debate went elsewhere

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Susan Lusi, the superintendent of the Providence school department, has come out against the NECAP graduation requirement, and Eva Marie Mancuso, the chair of the Board of Education, has accused her of “grandstanding” by presenting her concerns to the legislature rather than to her board.

Ha ha. This is funny because over the past year, Mancuso has maneuvered the Board and its agenda to shut down any possibility of real discussion of state testing policy. If Susan Lusi has chosen to use a different forum to make her concerns known, Mancuso might be the only person in Rhode Island who wonders why.

As I’ve written in the past, I have completely failed to find a forum in this state even for simply presenting a technical critique of the use of NECAP tests to anyone in authority. What’s remarkable about this is that a technical critique is more than just a statement of opinion. It’s an opinion about how the future will unfold. What I observe is a natural consequence of arithmetic, statistics, and the choices of the test designers. The results are impervious to the attention they get. Whether anyone listens to the critique or not is irrelevant to whether or not its effects will be felt. To date, I have not heard or seen a single response to my critique that did not rely on purposefully misconstruing it, and it has been endorsed by people who know a lot more about testing than I do.

If my critique is correct, then lots of kids will flunk the NECAP test, pretty much no matter what. I don’t have to be heard at a Board of Education meeting for this to come true. If my critique is correct, then RIDE is wasting a lot of money forcing school districts to undermine the test they have spent so much money designing and promoting. I don’t have to be on the radio for this to come true. If my critique is correct, performance on the NECAP test will not be well correlated with performance in college or a job. I don’t have to be called by a reporter for a response to RIDE’s many misstatements for this to come true.

These are serious consequences, with dollar signs attached to them. Not to mention thousands of damaged lives. Unfortunately, they are no longer just future possibilities. At this point, six hundred Providence students, along with over a thousand of their peers around the state, are at risk of not graduating from high school. To some extent their school systems have failed those kids, and to a large extent RIDE has failed them.

Policy makers have a responsibility to consider the consequences of their actions. Simply ignoring the possibility of bad consequences — precisely what has happened — is utterly irresponsible. Eva Marie Mancuso and Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, by doing everything they can to shut down debate over their policy, have demonstrated that they simply do not care about the consequences of their decisions. They claim to care about the students for which they are responsible, but belie those empty claims with their actions.

The rumors I hear are that Mancuso yearns to be appointed to the bench. Just the sort of judge we want: the kind who refuses to hear evidence. Gist wears her career ambitions on her sleeve, and they obviously extend far beyond our little state. Presumably advances in test scores will help her career after her contract here expires, and get her a lucrative book deal about how she turned around a little state. What are the lives and futures of a couple thousand kids when weighed against that kind of success and fame?

It is indeed true that having high school graduates who cannot do math is bad for our state. Is it not also true that having education policy makers who do not care about math is equally bad for our state?

January 23, 2014

Waiver chaos sparks ACLU to ask Guida to suspend NECAP policy

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Steve Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU, sent word to Patrick Guida, a member of the Board of Education and chairman of the ad hoc committee studying high stakes testing, that confusion over the waiver process proves it’s high time to reconsider the controversial NECAP graduation requirement policy.

[READ THE LETTER HERE]

“It is important for the Committee to realize that, as things currently exist, the waiver process is, in many instances, a completely arbitrary hodgepodge of inconsistent, incomplete, and poorly advertised policies that can only leave students and parents understandably anxious and perplexed,” Brown wrote in his letter.

In a subsequent phone interview, Guida said, “I have great respect for Steve Brown and am taking the letter very seriously” but added that he wanted to discuss the issue with committee members and Chairwoman Eva Mancuso before commenting on the letter. “As a board member I vote in favor of the assessment and still believe we need some form of assessment, but I am also very sensitive to the issues going around.”

The latest issue with the NECAP graduation requirement is the waiver process he state asked cities and town to develop for students who don’t pass the test.

Brown said in his letter: “Approximately two and a half months ago, the ACLU filed an open records request with all school districts to obtain a copy of their waiver policy as well as any documents related to its implementation, including any notice or instructions provided to parents or students about it and any forms that must be completed for a student to apply for a waiver. Such information is, obviously, essential for any meaningful waiver process, and required by RIDE’s guidance and regulations. The results of our request, however, were less than encouraging.”

You can read Brown’s entire letter here .

September 16, 2013September 16, 2013

ACLU: Board of Ed. violates open meeting law again

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Eva Mancuso’s secrecy sideshow continues as the ACLU says the Board of education has again violated the state open meeting law.

“This latest lawsuit, an expansion of one filed in July, challenges the Board’s debate and vote in secret last week to reject a petition by seventeen organizations for a public hearing on repealing the “high stakes testing” graduation requirement,” according to an ACLU press release sent today. “…the secret discussion violated the Open Meetings Act, and asks the court to declare the vote null and void, impose a $5,000 fine against the Board for willfully violating the law, and require the Board to consider the petition on its merits.”

In the first open meetings lawsuit the ACLU brought against the Board of Education, a judge prevented the Board from discussing the ACLU’s request to revisit the issue in public. The Board responded by discussing the merits of the issue itself in private and determined it deserved no extra public debate.

According to the press release:

The Board finally placed the petition on its September 9th meeting agenda. Before getting to that item, however, the Board went into closed session, purportedly to discuss the ACLU’s underlying APA lawsuit. Immediately upon reconvening into open session, however, Mancuso announced that the Board had not only discussed the lawsuit, but had also discussed the petition itself in its closed session and had voted, 6-5, to reject the petition.

The ACLU also included a timeline of events leading up to its latest lawsuit against the Board of Education.

September 11, 2013September 11, 2013

It’s actually Eva Mancuso’s sideshow

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Board of Education Chairwoman Eva Mancuso held a press conference to respond to criticism that the Board of Education did not adequately respond to criticism about the NECAP test. Her message: she would not be responding to criticism.

“I’m not going to get involved with sideshows with 16-year-olds,” she said according to the Providence Journal. “I’m starting to see Steve Brown the same way — as a sideshow.”

Steve Brown, in case you didn’t know, is the executive director of the RI ACLU. He says using the NECAP test as a graduation requirement will violate the rights of disabled, minority and poor students while increasing the achievement gap – issues that are being raised with regards to high stakes tests all over the country. That’s no sideshow. The ACLU is helping Tina Egan, whose daughter has Down syndrome and might not graduate high school because of the new NECAP requirement, bring legal action against Mancuso and the Board. That’s not a sideshow either.

Most recently, the ACLU has forced the Board and Mancuso, through a court order, to deliberate about a request that the Board discuss the new policy in public. Not even the policy itself, mind you, just whether or not to discuss the policy. That’s a sideshow completely of Mancuso and the Board’s own making.

Proponents of the NECAP requirement have worked hard to keep this debate as muffled as possible and now it seems Mancuso and the Board of Education want to paint any and all opposition as being born out of the Providence Student Union, which has brilliantly used theatrical political action to raise the profile of this issue. (On its agenda, the Board even says it is being sued by the PSU when it is being sued by Tina Egan.) But that doesn’t mean all the opposition is theatrical. Much of it is not.

September 10, 2013

Tina Egan is suing the state over NECAP test

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While the Board of Education’s agenda for last night’s meeting says it is being sued by the Providence Student Union, the lawsuit is actually being brought by East Greenwich parent Tina Egan, who says the using the NECAP test as a high stakes graduation requirement discriminates against her daughter with Down syndrome.

I think perhaps the Board may want it to seem as if it is being sued by activists rather than by a parent whose daughter is disabled. In any case, here is the testimony Egan gave last night:

I urge you to accept the Petition and rescind high stakes testing as a graduation requirement for the class of 2014 and beyond.

1. My daughter is a member of the class of 2014 and a person who was born with Down syndrome. Throughout her academic career in RI public schools, she has been in an inclusive educational model learning side by side with peers without intellectual disabilities.   Her aim has been in sync with her peers – earn a diploma and head out towards adulthood as a member of her community.

2. Like all her peers in school, she took NECAP tests. However, unlike the peers without intellectual disabilities, even with her best efforts on these standard tests, she did not attain a score of partial proficiency in math or reading. Now she retakes the tests twice more but the high stakes test will be an insurmountable barrier to a diploma and the next stage of life in an inclusive world and community.

3. Our state is in the national spot light today because of the Department of Justice settlement forcing the shut down of discriminatory practices relating to the treatment of persons with disabilities.   Employment First policy is being implemented and young adults with intellectual disabilities are finally getting the opportunity to be a part of our state’s work force.   We hear endless stories of adults with Down syndrome working successfully in jobs that require a high school diploma. These jobs fuel the economy as well as bring pride, social engagement and economic freedom to these individuals.

4. The RIDE high stakes testing policy flies in the face of Employment First and preclude individuals like my daughter from performing any of the wide range of entry level jobs that require, or simply prefer, candidates with a high school diploma.   Unless RIDE rescinds the high stakes test policy, young adults in Rhode Island will be shut out of an array of employment opportunities for which they are qualified based on their skills and abilities – is that a result we want?

Thank you for your considerations.

Tina Egan

September 10, 2013

NAACP joins NECAP protest

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Using the NECAP test as a high stakes graduation requirement has been challenged by students, teachers, parents, education activists and civil libertarians. Now you can add the NAACP to the list as well.

Providence NAACP President Jim Vincent told the Board of Education last night that he, too, is opposed to using this test as a graduation requirement.

In a statement today, he said:

The NAACP Providence Branch supports the NECAP test as a tool to evaluate student performance and progress but it should NOT be used as a graduation requirement. Last year, 40% of Rhode Island and over 60% of Providence 11^th graders “failed the test”. These high numbers suggest that there is something deeply wrong with a system which has failed to adequately prepare a significant number of its students after 11 years of schooling. There are numerous examples of other states with similar demographics whose students perform much better. No remedial or quick fix solutions will address the fundamental problem of a system that needs reform before children can adequately learn. The NAACP understands the value of a high school diploma and that a student receiving one should at least have minimal English and math skills. For that reason, we are not in favor of social promotions, however, we are also not in favor of penalizing students who have not received a solid educational foundation. In summary, use the NECAP as a tool but not as a requirement. Spend more time correcting the root cause of our students poor performance and less time creating what would be worse for our students… no high school diploma!

September 10, 2013September 10, 2013

Mayor Taveras reiterates NECAP opposition

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Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, a potential gubernatorial candidate next year, has sent a letter to Eva Mancuso and the Board of Education asking them to reconsider Rhode Island’s new policy of using the NECAP test as a high stakes graduation requirement. The letter was also sent to Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist and Governor Lincoln Chafee.

Here’s the letter:

Dear Chairwoman Mancuso and members ofthe Rhode Island Board of Education,

I am writing today to reiterate my concerns regarding the use ofthe NECAP test as a determining factor for our state’s high school graduation requirement. I Wish to urge the Board of Education to initiate formal rule-making proceedings for amending the Board’s “Secondary School Regulations: K-lZ Literacy, Restructuring of the Learning environment at the middle and
high school levels, and proficiency based graduation requirements (PBGR) at High Schools.”

I have previously Written to express my deep commitment to improving student achievement in Providence and to Working with professional educators, parents and young people in our city to ensure that all of our students are prepared to succeed after they graduate from our public school system.

l believe that appropriate testing is a helpful measurement tool across ages and disciplines. Standardized testing is a tool that is used to evaluate students and professionals at all levels from early childhood screenings, to the bar exam, to training for police officers and firefighters. We are Working diligently in Providence to prepare our students for success in the future and to do Well on the standardized tests that they are required to take. Our district-Wide graduation campaign is evidence of that.

That said, I worry that the former Board of Regents has imposed a graduation requirement on our students that is tied to a questionable measurement of individual proficiency and graduation readiness. Particularly knowing that by 2014 – 2015 a new test the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) – will be in use in Rhode lsland to assess individual performance in important subjects.

It seems our collective attention should be focused on implementing the curricula and assessments that the new Common Core standards will require so that our educators, parents and students have the adequate time to prepare and adjust their teaching and learning strategies.

Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

Sincerely,

Angel Taveras
Mayor

September 10, 2013September 10, 2013

Mancuso was for a debate before she was against it

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Eva Mancuso was for debating the NECAP issue before she was against it.

The oft-embattled chairwoman of the state Board of Education voted against a debate on the highly-politicized issue last night despite saying in May that it was an “important” issue that would “be coming before the Board.”

“I certainly want to look at that issue,” she told me in this video. “I think that’s an important issue to have on our plate.”

You can watch her say it in this video:

Mancuso also said in the video, “I don’t think it’s the best test.”

In a tweet this morning related to this video, Jean Ann Guliano wrote, “Chair Mancuso promised a debate. I hope she keeps her word. Since this interview, the Board has met at least twice in private to discuss the matter. Mancuso has yet to explain why she changed her mind.

Rhode Island’s Race to the Top federal funding is tied to its plans to use he NECAP for student and teacher evaluation.

September 10, 2013September 10, 2013

Board of Ed doesn’t want a NECAP debate

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High stakes testing is perhaps the most highly-charged political issue in Rhode Island this year – it continues to make national news and an extremely diverse coalition of parents, civil libertarians and disability activists have sued the state over the brand new policy that could leave 40 percent of high school seniors without a diploma. But the Board of Education doesn’t want to discuss it.

In a 6 to 5 vote last night, Governor Linc Chafee’s Board of Education voted against revisiting using the NECAP test as a high stakes graduation requirement.

“It’s certainly disappointing but I’m not discouraged,” said Jean Ann Guliano, an East Greenwich parent and politician. Guliano, who was chairwoman of the East Greenwich School Committee and ran for Lt. Gov as a member of the Moderate Party, has a son with autism whose hopes of graduating high school could be dashed by the NECAP requirement. “A 6-5 vote means that some people are starting to listen.”

But Steven Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU, which says the NECAP requirement unfairly targets poor and disabled students, was less conciliatory. In a statement sent out this morning, he said:

It is unconscionable that thousands of high school seniors may soon face their loss of a diploma based on an arbitrary test score, and will do so pursuant to a policy that the Board of Education itself has never directly considered.

Even worse, just weeks after being chided by a court for seeking to hold a discussion of high stakes testing in secret at a ‘private’ retreat, the Board tonight once again showed its disdain for the open meetings law by discussing this petition in complete secrecy. The public has no idea whatsoever why the Board took the action it did last night, and that is the antithesis of what the open meetings law is all about. We will be considering next steps, as this fight is far from over.

The Providence Journal reports “Those voting to deny the students’ petition were: (chairwoman Eva) Mancuso, Michael Bernstein, Karin Forbes, Jo Eva Gaines, William Maaia and Patrick Guida. Those voting in favor of reconsidering the NECAP were: Antonio Barajas, Colleen Callahan, Larry Purtill, Michael Grande and Mathies Santos.”

Rhode Island’s Race to the Top federal funding is tied to its plans to use he NECAP for student and teacher evaluation.

September 9, 2013September 10, 2013

Will Board of Ed. reconsider NECAP test policy?

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As standardized testing becomes an increasingly politicized component of the so-called “education reform” movement, the state Board of Education could decide tonight to review a previous Board’s decision to use the NECAP test as a graduation requirement.

The AP reports today that Rhode Island is one of the places around the country where teachers, activists and students are pushing back against the use of standardized tests.

The initial decision was made approved in 2011 by then-Board members Robert Flanders, Patrick Guida, Anna Cano-Morales, Amy Beretta, Karin Forbes and Betsy Shimberg. A loose coalition ranging from Providence students to East Greenwich parents is asking the current Board to reconsider in light of new information.

Meanwhile, the ACLU reminded Governor Chafee, in a press release last week, that his appointees to the Board of Education haven’t debated the NECAPs as a graduation requirement.

Said Executive Director Steven Brown in a statement:

The new Board of Education has never had the opportunity to fully hear from the public, much less take a position on, the actions of its predecessor – the Board of Regents – in approving high stakes testing. We are hopeful that, as a principled leader who has shown his commitment to governing with careful consideration, Governor Chafee will support an official rule-making process where all members of the public can provide testimony so that the Board can consider in a deliberate manner whether to change the policy. Whatever the Governor’s position on this controversial issue, we hope he agrees it is at least worthy of a full examination.

In Rhode Island, use of the NECAP as a graduation requirement has met with stiff opposition since it became evident that some 40 percent of students didn’t perform well enough to graduate. Since then a fairly disparate coalition of students, teachers, parents and activists have come together to ask the Board to reconsider the matter. Use of standardized tests as a graduation requirement and for teacher evaluations is tied to Race to the Top funds for Rhode Island.

June 7, 2013June 11, 2013

RI holds Gist accountable

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Embattled Education Commission Deborah Gist will keep her job in Rhode Island, but the Board of Education offered her a two year contract instead of the three year deal she was seeking. Both labor and management can claim some victory this morning.

“It’s a new day for education in Rhode Island,” said Board Chairwoman Eva Mancuso after the meeting.

Going forward, Gist will be given performance reviews. But this isn’t something the new Board instituted last night as a result of the public outcry against Gist. This is something Gist asked for in her initial contract that the old board never did. In other words, while Deborah Gist was holding teachers accountable, Rhode Island wasn’t holding her accountable.

After weeks of watching Rhode Island teachers speak out about Gist, her reforms and her management style, it seems as if both Gist and the Board now want this as much as educators and activists.

“It’s more of a statement going forward that we all need to work together, and that means going in a room and rolling up our sleeves as we did tonight,” Mancuso said after the meeting.

The meeting lasted four hours and about half of it happened in executive session. Executive session means a public body can meet outside the view of the public, but the conference room at CCRI where the meeting was held had a glass wall, and many reporters, teachers, activists and RIDE employees could see the very animated executive session playing out before their eyes.

“We were loud at times, we discussed it, people had very strong opinions,” Mancuso said. She said the Board may revisit either the NECAP test as a graduation requirement or the statewide performance review in the near future.

Pat Crowley told me yesterday, “If the board votes to renew the contract, we want to make it clear tonight isn’t the end of a campaign.”

It shouldn’t be the end of a campaign, and that’s a good thing. To my mind, a very great thing happened for public education in Rhode Island because teachers spoke out and managed up.

May 23, 2013May 23, 2013

Board of Ed begins to debate Gist contract tonight

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Former CVS CEO Tom Ryan envisioned the arena that bears his name at URI hosting high profile sporting events. Tonight at 5:30 the Ryan Center plays host to a high profile political event as the new state Board of Education begins the process of debating Deborah Gist’s future employment in Rhode Island.

The Board may or may not discuss Gist publicly, but it scheduled an executive session to have its first discussion as a group on whether or not Gist should continue as the commissioner of education. The board, according to its agenda, will also review a report from its personnel committee.

The personnel committee consists of Colleen Callahan, Bill Maaia, Michael Bernstein and Board Chairwoman Eva Mancuso. The personnel committee will make a recommendation to the full board. Gist’s future should be decided in less than a month, people familiar with the process tell me.

Callahan is a former teacher and a current officer with the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Care Professionals, one of the two state teacher unions vociferously opposed to a contract extension for Gist. Both she and fellow Board of Education member Larry Purtill, the elected president of the National Education Association of RI, both attended an educator rally against Gist on Monday at Cranston West. They sat on stage with Bob Walsh and Frank Flynn as teachers and other educators voiced their opposition.

Bernstein, according to his bio, is a former caseworker and director for the state Department of Human Services. Maaia, according to his bio, is a local lawyer and a former labor relations officer with the Department of Education.

Mancuso has said she and Gov. Chafee continue to support Gist.

When Chafee appointed Mancuso to the Board, he said in a statement, “She agrees with me that our public education system is the key to a stronger economy and brighter future for Rhode Island, and she has both the vision and the dedication to ably lead the new Board of Education on behalf of the students of our state.”

Chafee is expected to play a role in whether Gist stays on, and members of his staff has said he feels a sense of loyalty to Gist. But he must also feel a sense of loyalty to the teachers’ unions who helped to elect him and whose pensions he worked to reduce. Organized labor will of course play a big role in the 2014 governor’s race, and Chafee could mend a rift with organized labor by replacing Gist. Interestingly, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, Chafee’s chief competition for progressive support in 2014, is hosting a high profile fundraiser tonight as well.

Gist is seeking a three-year contract extension. A one year extension would put her employment in the spotlight again prior to the 2014 election.