Commissioner Gist Recommends Closure of Failing Providence Charter School
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Education Commissioner Deborah Gist is recommending that the Board of Regents close a Providence charter school that has “consistently failed to educate their students in math,” according to Thursday’s meeting agenda.
The Academy for Career Exploration Charter School (ACE) opened in 1997 and lists its missions as “to increase students' life choices after graduation.”
But a Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) performance review of the school shows that while students have improved in literacy over the last four years, math proficiency has plummeted. In fact, zero 11th graders were proficient in math, according to 2011 NECAP scores.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
“ACE has failed to provide systematic instructional supports for students in the area of math, all of whom are struggling and none of whom have reached the level of 'proficient' on the 2011 state assessment,” the review states.
RIDE’s review also takes the school’s leadership to task for failing to provide “oversight for student learning and continuous improvement over the life of the school’s latest charter term.” It also notes that the school has no formal process for review of its curriculum.
“The board has not provided strong oversight in key areas, including tools for monitoring progress towards board-established goals, school leader accountability, academic and fiscal oversight,” the report states.
The report continues: “The school leader does not have formal policy or clear and operationalized procedures for key areas of the school’s administration, including curriculum development and revision, professional development, and fiscal oversight.”
At Thursday’s meeting, the Board of Regents will also discuss charter renewals for Beacon Charter High School, Paul Cuffee Charter School, the International Charter School and Kingston Hill Academy. Gist is recommending five-year renewals for each school.
Separately, RIDE announced Tuesday that the state has been awarded a $4 million federal grant to help create a comprehensive data system that will track students from before they enter kindergarten until they enter the workforce.
“One of our priorities as we work together to transform education in Rhode Island is to ensure that we have user-friendly, comprehensive data systems that link across state agencies and that integrate education, demographic, and human-services data for all students,” Gist said “This new data system that we will develop in partnership with Higher Education and the Department of Labor and Training will help us ensure that our graduates are ready for success in college and in challenging careers in the Rhode Island workforce.”
Governor Lincoln Chafee called the grant a “major milestone in our efforts to ensure the future well-being of our students and the economic prosperity of our state.”
“For many years, our data about Rhode Island students has been scattered among several state agencies, so we have never had a clear, unified picture of the progress our students make as they move from elementary school to higher education and on into the workforce,” he said.
Dan McGowan can be reached at [email protected].