Progressive News, Opinion, and Analysis
In case you missed progressive education activist Diane Ravitch at URI Tuesday night, you can watch the entire event here thanks to the University Honors Colloquium, which hosted the former Bush education official-turned-activist against the so called “education reform” movement.
Ravitch was introduced by Cauldierre McKay of the Providence Student Union, who was last seen on NBC’s Education Nation. (He starts at about 4.20) His speech is highly worth watching.
Classical High School student and Providence Student Union member Cauldierre McKay has gone national. He and other members of Student Unions from around the country appeared on MSNBC’s Education Nation this Sunday.
“Education reform has become a prominent debate across the country, but the students who are impacted by its result are rarely invited to weigh in,” according to the MSNBC blog. “This year, there has been a surge of students determined to disrupt that standard and make their voices heard to advocate for education reform that makes sense based on their own experiences with hot-button issues like high-stakes testing.”
Here’s the post from the Providence Student Union blog.
Here’s a great segment of McKay talking explaining how the PSU parlayed a zombie march, it’s first direct action, into an adult test taking session and national notoriety:
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And here’s the first segment of the special:
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Enter the arts community into the ever-escalating debate over high stakes testing in Rhode Island. The Providence Student Union is holding a “talent show” in front of the Department of Education on Friday, and several prominent artists are supporting the student group’s effort.
“The Providence Student Union’s Citywide Talent Show is a great venue to show the world that young people aren’t the leaders of tomorrow, they are leaders today,” said Elia Gurna, executive director of the New Urban Arts. “While the current educational culture seems to value only that which is easily measured by scores and grades, PSU is giving young people a chance to find and raise their voices through collaboration and creativity, which we should value just as much (or more) as any academic skills or achievements.”
The show starts at 4 pm on Westminster Street across from the Department of Education. According to a press release, members of the Board of Education have been invited, as well as other public officials.
“Providence students will take an afternoon off from standardized test‐taking to appreciate another important component of education: the arts. The Providence Student Union will hold a free variety show adjacent to the Rhode Island Department of Education to showcase the talents of students from across the city. The event, held in the middle of three weeks of NECAP testing, features more than twenty performances by Providence public school students.”
What do the arts have to do with high stakes testing, you ask? Well, this is what AS220 founder and artistic director Bert Crenka said:
“Art is about self expression, a sure path to self realization. We need more of it in our schools, not less. Enough said.”
Hector Perea, a member of the Providence Student Union, takes issue with being called a sideshow by Eva Mancuso. Here’s what he wrote in an email today:
My name is Héctor Perea, and I am a proud member of the Providence Student Union.
As you know, the Providence Student Union is a group where students like me can work together to make sure we have a fair say in our education. But we learned this past week that some people still don’t understand the importance of student voice.
Last Monday the Rhode Island Board of Education voted 6-5 against a proposal to have open, public hearings to allow the community to finally weigh in on the use of a high-stakes test as an obstacle to graduation. My friend and fellow PSUer Cauldierre McKay summed up the unfortunate situation in this blog post – check it out to hear how the Board opposes allowing students (not to mention parents, teachers, and the community) to fully participate in an open and transparent public debate of this crucial issue.
Even more disappointing, however, was what happened afterwards, when Board Chairwoman Mancuso dismissively announced that she’s “not going to get involved with sideshows with 16-year-olds” like me. As I told the Providence Journal, “The future of Rhode Island students should not be seen as a sideshow by the very people in charge of our education.”
Then, a Saturday opinion piece by a conservative commentator once again said it was time for students to sit down and shut up. The piece even personally insulted me for speaking out on this issue, saying, “Perea is obviously struggling with the reading comprehension portion of the NECAP exam.” This is especially ignorant because I actually scored the highest possible score on my NECAP reading exam. But I am more than a test score, and so are my friends who are being hurt by this policy.
The attacks on my character aren’t important – I can take it. What does matter is that some adults feel they can shut down the voices of students like me, just because we are young or because they don’t like what we have to say. I think we should be celebrating student voice, not belittling it.
Fortunately, we aren’t on our own; we are so proud of the outpouring of support we’ve had here in Rhode Island and across the country.
Student voice is always stronger when it has the support of people like you. If you agree that students deserve a voice in their own education, please take a second to forward this email to 5 people who may not have heard of Providence Student Union’s mission to give students a fair say.
I believe the best thing happening in Rhode Island recently is the public debate about the education reform/deform movement and, in particular, using the NECAP test as a high stakes graduation requirement.
Eva Mancuso may think this is the sideshow, but I think this is the main event.
This morning there were several very constructive discussions among journalists, teachers, candidates, experts and concerned citizens about how high stakes tests play into education disparity as well as a host of other education-related issues. Noticeably absent was anyone from our government, which has in no uncertain terms communicated it doesn’t want to discuss this issue any longer.
That’s too bad, for us and them. Prior to the NECAP flap, both the Board of Education and Deborah Gist have – at best – flawed reputations with students, teachers and the public. And the ACLU announces another lawsuit over this matter on Monday. Hosting a discussion about high stakes tests is not only in everyone’s best interest, but it would also be a great opportunity to repair some of that damage to their collective credibility with the community.
Congressman Jim Langevin recently won the respect of many liberals and hard-line progressives not be acquiescing to the left, but rather by engaging with us. He took an unpopular position on NSA spying and then called together a town hall and listened and engaged with his detractors. Eva Mancuso and the Board of Education should follow his good example and engage the community about its concerns.
It is obvious that Eva Marie Mancuso is an intelligent and hard-working Chairperson for the Board of Education. In addition, it is also obvious that she is tenacious and committed to her causes. With all of this said, I find it extremely unfortunate that she referred to the PSU as sideshow.
At a time when we are discussing relevance in education, a group of young people have taken it upon themselves to organize and advocate for a significant issue. Rather than being referred to as a sideshow, they should be referred to as exemplars for promoting a cause. They have done so with courage, intelligence and commitment. Believe me, they are no sideshow.
It appears as though the discussion pertaining to the NECAPs has reached a jingoistic phase. Again, this is unfortunate. Maybe it is time for a public discussion where champions of both sides sit on a panel, articulate their points and discuss the issue in an open forum. This has been promised in the past. This appears incredibly necessary for the future.
I truly appreciate the efforts that many have put into this contentious concern. I also firmly believe that those in advocate for the NECAP are as committed to their views as those who call for its elimination as a graduation requirement are. Don’t you think it’s time that we all get in the same room and have an open and public discussion? We owe it to the citizens of Rhode Island to provide accurate and clear information. We owe it to Rhode Islanders to provided viable information in order that they might make an informed decision. Let’s stop the finger pointing and insults and get back to intelligent people being involved in intelligent discourse.
At this time, a number of advocates and myself are planning a statewide forum to discuss the role that standardized tests like the NECAP play in our education system. Stay tuned for more information.
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
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.
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.
Members of the Providence Student Union are staging a sit in at the Department of Education until they get a meeting with Commissioner Deborah Gist, according to Aaron Regunberg.
UPDATE: The students saw Gist and they scheduled a meeting for Thursday, said Regunberg.
Here’s the full release:
Around forty Providence students have sat down in the front office of the Rhode Island Department of Education, saying they are willing to wait as long as necessary until Commissioner Gist will come down to talk with them. They have been waiting close to two hours. “We’ve come here today to share with the Commissioner some new information regarding the economic impact of the NECAP graduation requirement on students,” said Tim Shea, a Providence high school student. “We only wanted a few minutes of her time. But when she refused to come down and even speak with the students she’s supposed to be representing, we decided to just sit down and wait for her.” Students, members of the youth group the Providence Student Union, say they have asked for the Deputy Commissioner, the RIDE Chief of Staff, and other RIDE officers and none are willing to give even a few minutes of their time.
Developing….
The Board of Education failed to act on a request to address the NECAP test graduation requirement raised by the ACLU, the Providence Student Union and other community groups, according to a lawsuit filed by the groups. Click here to read the complaint.
“They have to act on our petition,” said Steve Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU. “They can deny it, but they have to address it and they have not.”
According to the lawsuit, the Board of Education missed the deadline to address a petition raised by the public. The Board met last week, but did not discuss the issue or have it listed in its agenda. Many members of the public showed up to speak on the issue, and several were not allowed to be heard during the open forum section of the meeting.
“There is tremendous uncertainty regarding the NECAP test that is causing extraordinary stress and anxiety among thousands of families in the state,” Brown said. “It’s perhaps the major issue out there and the Board needs to grapple with it.”
Board Chairwoman Eva Mancuso has told reporters that the Board plans to address the matter in private at its August retreat. Brown thinks the issue should be discussed publicly as well. “This is precisely what the open meetings law is all about,” he said. “This is an extremely critical public issue.”
Here’s more from the ACLU’s press release:
Numerous questions have been raised about the validity of the NECAP test (and others) as a high stakes testing tool. When the NECAP was introduced in Rhode Island, the Department of Education specifically acknowledged that it should not be used for making graduation decisions. A comprehensive 2011 study by the National Research Council concluded more generally that “high school exit exam programs, as currently implemented in the United States, decrease the rate of high school graduation without increasing achievement.”
Last month, the General Assembly entered the fray by approving a resolution calling on the BOE to delay implementation of the high stakes requirement. Providence Mayor Angel Taveras made a similar request a month earlier. In a letter accompanying the petition in June, the organizations argued that, rather than educating students, the requirement has led to too much time being spent teaching to the test. In fact, last month, RIDE supported legislation that explicitly authorized school districts to yank students out of core classroom activities to prep for the test if that was deemed to be in the student’s “best interest.”
ACLU attorney Wiens noted today: “While we ultimately hope that the Board adopts our proposed amendments to the NECAP graduation requirements, at this juncture, we are simply asking the Board to consider our petition as the law requires.”
Imagine education activist groups from New Hampshire to Los Angeles gathering in one place. That’s how you’d build a movement for real education reform.
This weekend, over 1000 students, teachers, parents, researchers, and activists will assemble in Chicago for the fourth “Free Minds, Free People” conference to continue building the growing “education for liberation” movement. Attendees will join in workshops and conferences with topics ranging from democratic leadership, to parent organizing, to restorative justice and the school-to-prison pipeline. Many of these workshops are student-led. And while adults are at the “Organizing Resistance to Teach for America” conference (which has gathered advance attention in publications like Prospect and The Washington Post), students will be strategizing around the creation of a sorely-needed National Student Bill of Rights.
Providence Student Union this year is supporting five students in this work, including Cauldierre McKay. In Cauldierre’s own words:
“This conference is a chance to build relationships with people across the nation who are fighting for the same things we are fighting for. This is the kind of real, innovative learning experience that we should have more of in our schools.”
Cauldierre, four more students, and I are taking the 16 hour bus ride (each way!) with a group of youth power organizations from across the Northeast, including Boston-area Youth Organizing Project, Boston Student Advisory Council, Young Organizers United, El Movimiento, and The City School. PSU is especially happy to be making the trip with two inspiring organizations from Providence: Young Voices and Youth In Action. The Northeast groups in particular will be working together to strengthen efforts for democratic education in our region.
I invite you to meet the rest of the team and follow all the (often hilarious) action on Twitter.
As Providence Student Union member Hector Perea said, “We’re not even to Chicago yet, and it’s already been an adventure.”
The Providence Student Union, the ACLU, the RI Disability Law Center and 14 other organizations with a vested interest in equitable public education in the Ocean State are formally asking RIDE to stop using the NECAP test as a graduation requirement.
“The new Board of Education has never had the opportunity to fully discuss, much less take a position on, the actions of its predecessor – the Board of Regents – in approving high stakes testing,” said RI ACLU Executive Director Steve Brown, a frequent contributor to RI Future. “Through this petition, we are hopeful that the Board will take a stand and agree with the many organizations signing this petition that high stakes testing is bad policy.”
Board of Education Chairwoman Eva Mancuso told RI Future in May that the new board would reconsider the policy.
“I think that’s an important issue to come before the board,” she told me in May. “I certainly want to look at that issue.”
She also said: “I don’t think it’s the best test.” And added, “40 percent of kids are not going to not graduate from high school if I have anything to do about it.”
Using the NECAP test as a graduation requirement has emerged as one of the most controversial initiatives of Deborah Gist’s embattled tenure as education commission of Rhode Island.
Not only has using high stakes tests as a graduation requirement become more controversial across the country, the issue is further strained in Rhode Island because there are unanswered questions about the validity of the NECAP test in particular to measure individual student performance.
Tom Sgouros, Rick Richards and other RI Future contributors have painstakingly detailed how it is designed to measure school, not individual aptitude. The Providence Student Union made national news when it challenged adults to take a version of the NECAP test.
Here’s the full press release sent from the Providence Student Union today:
A coalition of 17 organizations representing youth, parents, the disability community, civil rights activists, college access organizations and other constituencies have filed a formal petition with the state Board of Education to initiate a public rule-making process over a proposal to rescind Rhode Island’s controversial new high-stakes testing graduation requirement. Under the Administrative Procedures Act, the Board will have 30 days to respond to the petition.
“The clock is ticking, and the futures of literally thousands of Rhode Island teens are hanging in the balance,” said Steven Brown, ACLU of RI Executive Director. “The new Board of Education has never had the opportunity to fully discuss, much less take a position on, the actions of its predecessor – the Board of Regents – in approving high stakes testing. Through this petition, we are hopeful that the Board will take a stand and agree with the many organizations signing this petition that high stakes testing is bad policy.”
Questions about the validity of high stakes testing as a graduation requirement have been a source of great concern and debate in recent months. In a cover letter accompanying the petition, the organizations echoed the views of many students and teachers that, rather than educating students, the policy has led to too much time being spent teaching to the test. In fact, earlier this month RIDE supported legislation that explicitly authorizes school districts to pull students out of core classroom instruction to prep for the test, if doing so is deemed to be in the student’s “best interest.” The groups also point to RIDE’s own failure to meet 32 of 33 goals it set for itself in improving achievement for traditionally vulnerable students as “ample proof of the validity of our concerns.”
RIDE has repeatedly assured worried parents that many students at risk of not graduating need not fear the testing requirement. But the signatories, like many citizens across the state, remain concerned – especially for the significant cohort of ELL and special education students.
“Use of high-stakes testing has a disproportionate impact on students with disabilities and is counter to what we know works best for these students,” said Anne Mulready, supervising attorney at the RI Disability Law Center. “Our state and school districts have made significant investments in building the capacity to provide individualized instruction for students with disabilities that focuses on individual student strengths and learning styles, as required by federal and state law. But these investments are being needlessly squandered by the use of a high-stakes test to determine who gets a high school diploma.”
The Board of Education has been in existence for six months, but has never formally discussed or voted on this controversial requirement, despite the extensive public comment the subject has received at Board meetings. Under the Administrative Procedures Act, the Board has thirty days to initially respond to the petition, either by denying or it by initiating a public rule-making process, where testimony will be accepted and the Board can, as the groups note, “consider in a timely but deliberate manner whether to accept, modify, or reject this proposal.”
As Hector Perea, a member of the Providence Student Union noted, “The petition does not make the Board take a stand on high-stakes testing. It just pushes the Board to start a public process where they have to, at the very least, think about whether to debate the issue. We think the thousands of concerned students and parents of Rhode Island deserve at least that.”
Among the groups signing the petition are The Autism Project, Children’s Policy Coalition, College Visions, NAACP Providence Chapter, Providence Student Union, ACLU of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Disability Law Center, Rhode Island Teachers Of English Language Learners, Urban League of Rhode Island, and Youth in Action.
Eva Mancuso, chairwoman of the new state Board of Education, doesn’t think the NECAPs are the best test to use as a graduation requirement and said the board will revisit the decision to use it as such. There are unanswered questions about the tests effectiveness and whether or not local school districts support it, she said.
This will be the Board’s first debate on the NECAPs as a graduation requirement and/or high stakes testing as a graduation requirement (two separate debates, mind you!). The idea was initially passed two years ago (correction: Jason Becker said it was 2008) by its predecessor, the Board of Regents.
High stakes standardized tests as a graduation requirement, a major effort of the so-called education reform movement that is causing controversy from Seattle to New England, became a high profile political issue this year when 40 percent of high school 
juniors didn’t score well enough to graduate from high school. This is the first year Rhode Island is using a standardized test as a graduation requirement and, unlike other standardized tests, the New England Common Assessment Program was not designed to be used as a graduation requirement.
Tom Sgouros has argued it isn’t an effective tool for measuring individual student performance. The Providence Student Union raised the profile of the issue even higher when they organized a group of adult community leaders to take the test; 60 percent of them didn’t do well enough to warrant a high school diploma.
With public school teachers organizing to Dump Gist (they meet today at 4:30 at Cranston West High School) as her continued employment is debated later this week, students from Providence are applying some pressure as well. Following up on the Providence Student Union‘s high-profile action in which adults took the NECAP test, they now want to debate the issue with the adult behind the high stakes testing regime.
After meeting with Gist last week, they sent her a letter asking her to discuss the same issues in public.
“Students appreciated meeting with her behind closed doors, but believe that the discussion needs to happen in the public,” said Aaron Regunberg, an organizer of the student group.
Here’s the letter they sent:
Dear Commissioner Gist,
In the name of open discussion and the free exchange of ideas, we, the members of the Providence Student Union, respectfully request that you participate with us in a public debate regarding Rhode Island’s new high-stakes standardized testing graduation requirement. We suggest the following terms:
– We agree on a neutral setting
– We agree on a neutral moderator.
– We agree on a neutral format (our suggestion is to copy the debate done by Leadership Rhode Island for and against the resolution, “The Rhode Island Department of Education should reverse its decision to make NECAP scores a high school graduation requirement,” using some variation of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues’ public debate format).We believe this will be a great opportunity for the people of Rhode Island to hear both sides of this important issue. We would like to propose June 8th as a possible date for the debate, although we are very willing to be flexible as we know you are busy. We sincerely hope you will take us up on this offer. Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Providence Student Union
More than a third of Providence high school students who took the NECAP test in October may not have taken either the necessary algebra or geometry classes to fare well on the test, according to the Providence Student Union. A full13 percent of NECAP test takers haven’t taken either algebra and geometry in school, the two prominent disciplines on the math NECAP.
“How can the commissioner possibly think it is fair to hold kids answerable for material they haven’t been introduced to yet?” said Ken Fish, the former director of middle and high school reform for the state Department of Education, which has made the NECAP test a new graduation requirement. “How can the Board of Education go ahead with this diploma system when the evidence against it continues to grow and grow? This is an unethical policy, and it needs to be put on hold.”
Education Commissioner Deborah Gist has come under intense scrutiny as of late for pushing ahead with an unpopular proposal to use the NECAP test as a graduation requirement. The Providence Student Union, a group of urban high school students who advocate for a student-centric education, have led the protest.
“It’s really just confirmation of what we have been saying all along,” said Monique Taylor, a member of the Providence Student Union and a student at Central High School. “The NECAP is not aligned to our curriculum, so lots of students are being held ‘accountable’ for things we haven’t even been taught yet. How does that make any sense at all?”
Tom Sgouros, writing for this blog, has done substantial research to show that the NECAP isn’t meant to be used as a graduation requirement and that it isn’t an effective tool in measuring individual student performance. His reporting has also shown that RIDE and Gist have tried to cover up these points. Today, he reported that .
PSU members they plan to collect course data from other districts to show that in other urban school districts students aren’t getting the necessary course training to perform well on the NECAP tests.
“The information we have is from Providence, but I bet we’re not the only district with a bunch of students who’ve been set up to fail like this,” said Hector Perea, another PSU member and a student at Hope High School. “We plan to try to get data from other cities, as well, to show how truly ridiculous RIDE’s current policy is.”
There were two speeches on reforming education at the State House last night – Deborah Gist gave the annual State of Education speech inside and outside the Providence Student Union gave the State of the Student speech.
The Providence Journal covered both Gist’s speech and the PSU speeches. You can read their coverage here.
Deborah Gist has been doing her darnedest to ignore the Providence Student Union as of late. But before her annual “State of Education” speech tomorrow night at the State House, they will be giving the inaugural “State of the Student” speech there as well.
Gist, in her joint session to the House and Senate tomorrow, will no doubt talk about the $75 million in Race to the Top money is helping advance the so-called “education reform” agenda she has proscribed for the Rhode Island. The students from Providence will preempt her by letting everyone know that it hasn’t been working out for them yet.
Here’s their full email:
Okay, what are we talking about?
Every year, the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education gives a “State of Education” address to the General Assembly detailing the Department of Education’s vision for Rhode Island students.
That is all well and good. But members of the Providence Student Union (PSU) feel that these speeches miss an important perspective – namely, the voices of Rhode Island’s students themselves.
Students are the ones who actually experience the “State of Education” every day, so PSU has decided to take this opportunity to share our vision for the schools Rhode Island’s students deserve.
Please join us tomorrow at the First Annual State of the Student Address to hear PSU’s recommendations for the changes our state’s young people need to achieve high standards in high school and beyond, with topics including teaching and learning, curriculum, school repairs, assessment and high-stakes testing. We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
PSU’s State of the Student planning committee (Hector, Kelvis, Leexammarie, Cauldierre and Aaron)
P.S. In case you can’t make it tomorrow but still want to participate, we will be offering live-streaming coverage of our Address starting at 4:30 p.m. on our Facebook page.
The Providence Student Union, led by local adults Aaron Regunberg and Zach Mazera, has drawn significant attention to the NECAP graduation requirement, even getting a mention in a Boston Glove editorial. Gist, however, has cautioned local adults not to pay attention or participate in the student’s attempts to criticize the new policy (see statement from the commissioner’s office regarding this characterization).
Imagine this scenario: you’ve been excelling in sales job for a few years when your boss tells you that your continued employment is in jeopardy if you don’t bring home the bacon on a randomly selected day next week.
Sound extreme? Maybe even counter-productive for the company’s long-range best interest? This is what the state is asking of local public high school students with its new standardized test graduation requirement.
Of course, no employer would determine an employee’s value to the company based on one bad day at the office; that would be poor management. As such, perhaps it’s hard for us adults to realize just how high the stakes are with a make or break standardized test.
So the Providence Student Union has come up with a way for us adults to feel their pain: they are asking us to take the test too.
According to a press release:
To lend a deeper perspective to the debate over Rhode Island’s new high-stakes testing diploma system, members of the Providence Student Union (PSU) have invited community leaders and policy makers to put themselves in students’ shoes and take a shortened version of the NECAP exam that is now being used as a make-or-break graduation requirement for the state’s young people. Currently 40 state senators, state representatives, city council members, school board members, non-profit directors, lawyers, reporters, and education officials are planning to participate in this student-administered, student-proctored event.
Probably because I’ve been such a loudmouth on the issue, a student called and asked me if I’d take the test. So this Saturday at 12:15 at the Knight Memorial Library, 275 Elmwood Avenue in Providence, number 2 pencil in hand, I’ll be reliving the good old days of test taking.
There will be a whole crew of community leaders and education advocates taking the test with me, and I hope to see some of the people who pushed this new state mandate there, too. (No, not because I want to look over their shoulders for the right answers1 …because I think they will learn something about high stakes tests, students and themselves by doing so.)
But if they are anything like me, they probably aren’t looking forward to this challenge. I’ve got a lot to do this week and cumulatively it will all serve as a better metric on my aptitude than will one single test.
