It's Not About the Money. It's About the Kids. Part 2

During budget season, the focus is on the cost of education with an expectation of efficient use of funding. However, following the release of the most recent assessment data, it’s hard to see how anyone can claim the schools are doing a good job.

                              

In fairness to local school districts, it is important to point out that the state should bear most of the blame. In contrast with Massachusetts, Rhode Island has been playing ping-pong with the schools for at least 10 years.

Why is Massachusetts a leader in education?  Because it passed an Ed. Reform bill in 1993 intended to provide an excellent education for all its students. It established standards that were appropriate for its demographic and mandated that every district develop curriculum based on those standards. Only then did it develop an assessment instrument suitable for those standards. 

Meanwhile, what did Rhode Island do? It selected multiple assessments – changing at least 3 times over a 10-year period – and expected the districts to develop relevant curriculum – in other words, teach to the tests.

Finally, Rhode Island seems to be “getting it”, but change takes time. The point is that, if there is any good time to completely revamp an educational system, the time is right now!  And what better time than with a new school with twice the enrollment where students can be offered twice the educational opportunity!

So when someone says, “There doesn’t appear to be a material change in curriculum between a high school of 600 students and 1200 students,” tell them they are mistaken.