The Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education on Aug. 29 approved a plan from the state commissioner of education to keep the Providence Public School District under state control for up to three additional years.
Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said during the council meeting that the schools should be “proud,” of the progress they have made since the pandemic, but ultimately, she felt her job as an interventionist is not yet complete.
She pointed to a recently commissioned study from The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and one from education consulting company SchoolWorks to show that students have made progress in terms of attendance, math and reading since the pandemic but that students are not where she wants them to be before she relinquishes control.
“We don’t want it to backslide at this critical point. We cannot afford to be complacent and return to the ways of the past,” Infante-Green said.
Public data show, that in 2023, just 15.1% of students in Providence schools were proficient in reading and just 13% were proficient in math. That is compared with the statewide average of 33.1% proficiency for reading and 29.6% proficiency for math. Providence’s numbers are up since the academic year following the pandemic, but lower than the academic year before the pandemic.
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.
