Math, Science, and Technology in RI Schools
Current State Education Policy
The current Commissioner of Education, Peter
McWalters, came to RI in 1992 from the superintendency of the Rochester Public Schools in
New York. At that time, the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
(RIDE) advocated for and distributed state aid, certified teachers and administrators,
provided limited technical assistance in targeted areas, and operated principally in a
monitoring mode. Compliance with a Basic Education Plan (RIDE 1989) for schools and
districts focused principally on input measures to both derive and determine quality. The
state published an annual set of district and school profiles focusing on demographics,
financing, and the results of achievement tests administered by the state to all eligible
students in three separate grades. Poor performance on state tests resulted in no direct
actions by the state. A number of people directly vested in schooling consulted these
profiles. They also received limited use by legislators, local government officials
(including school committees), and the general public.
The recent history of education policy in RI was succinctly
summarized in Education Week’s 1997 Quality Counts report, “Strong
Headwinds,” as a wealth of ideas that had little effect on student performance. There
was no shortage of energy and ideas within the state, but there was a lack of common
agreement on appropriately challenging goals for students, how progress toward those goals
should be assessed, and who should be held accountable for their realization in a highly
decentralized system. Consequently, student achievement improved only modestly, if at all,
for a decade.
In 1996, Governor Lincoln Almond and the Board of Regents put
forth a coherent plan for educational improvement in the form of the Comprehensive
Education Strategy (CES). The CES, developed by approximately fifty participants from a
variety of sectors, established a clear agenda of challenging subject area content
standards for students, meaningful state assessments, and accountability for school
improvement (RIDE 1996). The CES is composed of six broad categories of activity organized
under two main action agendas: improving teaching and learning and creating responsive and
supportive systems for students and schools. The principal goals of these activities are
to help all RI children achieve the high standards that the Regents have formally adopted
and to close gaps in achievement among different groups of students.
In June 1997, RI’s General Assembly elevated many of the
principles enunciated within the CES to the status of state law with the passage of
Article 31, a budget article that the legislature chose to broaden significantly beyond
attention solely to financial matters (RI Board of Regents 2000).