Guest MINDSETTER™ Heather Tow-Yick: Investing in Public Education

Monday, November 24, 2014

Heather Tow-Yick, GoLocalProv Guest MINDSETTER™

 

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With this election season behind us, I congratulate all the candidates for campaigns that addressed some of the biggest challenges and opportunities that Rhode Island faces.  I hope that our elected officials will deliver on their promises to improve education, boost our economy, and to create more jobs. As a state, we must all work together to achieve the systematic and comprehensive changes that will deliver an excellent quality of life for all citizens. At the crux of these challenges is education. Our government leaders must consider the long-term impact of investing in public education to build an influx of talented and committed educators across Rhode Island and strengthen our economy.

Income and Employment Gaps

A recent Pew Research Center survey reveals that today there are wider income and employment gaps than ever before between those who have a college degree and those who don’t. Young people in Rhode Island, especially those growing up in low-income communities, are facing fewer opportunities, and need to receive more academic supports and attention to be prepared for college or career success. Expanding educational opportunities for every child is the right thing to do, and it also just makes economic sense. If the opportunity gap is ignored, income inequality will worsen. 

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We can draw some common sense solutions from what educators have been doing over time that have yielded great results with students. We know that high expectations, supporting our teachers, and giving our schools the autonomy to make the choices that are right for them, can make a big difference for our kids and education across the state. 

High expectations can make or break a child’s experience in school. Great teachers do not give up on students and they see the potential in every child. And great teachers across Rhode Island are doing this every day. Schools like Blackstone Valley Prep Rhode Island Mayoral Academy are intentionally working with children from across economic and racially diverse backgrounds, and setting the expectation that every student is a scholar with the ability to achieve and graduate college.  All our schools should be setting the same expectations for all students, no matter what neighborhood they are growing up in. 

Graduation Rates

Rhode Island’s graduation rate has been rising overall, but the lowest graduation rates are in our four core cities (Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls and Woonsocket), which also share the highest child poverty rates. According to the Rhode Island Kids Count report: Improving High School Graduation Rates, the graduation rate in the core cities is 66% compared to 83% across the rest of the state. Our public schools must hold every child to a high bar of excellence, while supporting students who face the additional challenges of poverty to meet those standards. We must also invest in resources to work with and engage our very diverse families to support additional learning at home. 

Teachers matter. And supporting our state’s teachers is critical. Teachers thrive when they can share and learn from each other. Common planning time is a tried and true opportunity to facilitate sharing amongst teachers, and to leverage a team of people who collectively have more experience than any individual. At a time when budgets are tight and teachers are being asked to take on more, we must find ways to give teachers the time and support they need to do their jobs well.  Teacher evaluations must be about growing and supporting teachers at every stage of their career, and schools and districts should have the ability to create leadership opportunities that can help retain great educators and enable them to grow and advance professionally. Finally, given that the demographics of our students are rapidly changing, we have to do more to diversify our teacher workforce. 

Support and Leadership

We must also build public faith in providing autonomy at the school level. School leaders, teachers and school-based staff are those best positioned to partner with unions and parent associations to make good decisions for their students. Let’s trust in this and give our schools the support they need to make resource allocation decisions, implement assessments and curriculum that promote critical thinking and skill development, and ensure access to sports, arts and music. With more autonomy, also comes greater responsibility and we should have clear accountability mechanisms in place to ensure equity and quality of decisions across schools.  

I hope all Rhode Islanders will support our elected officials in prioritizing education, and hold them accountable to real, long-lasting and comprehensive plans that work and are proven in improving public education. This November is a great time to congratulate our newly elected officials and let them know that public education matters to you. You can also provide feedback on the Rhode Island Department of Education’s 2015-2020 strategic plan by filling out their five-minute survey: www.ride.ri.gov/Strategic-Plan-Survey.

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Heather Tow-Yick is the founding Executive Director for Teach For America in Rhode Island and launched the region in 2010. Heather returned to the Ocean State after working for several years with the Human Assets team at Teach For America to support over 10 regions on achieving their staff culture, retention and diversity priorities. She served as the special assistant to former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and as a strategy consultant with The Bridgespan Group. She started her career in education with Teach For America as a corps member in 1998 in the South Bronx where she taught middle school English and US History. After her corps experience, she worked in several roles on staff with Teach For America in New York to train and develop corps members at their pre-service training and throughout the year. 

Heather is a graduate of Brown University and holds a master’s degree from Columbia University Teachers College and a master’s in business adminstration from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. While at Brown, Heather led her sailing team to a national championship, broke gender barriers by representing the first all women’s team to qualify and compete nationally in the co-ed division, and was a two-time All American athlete. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband, Bill, and black lab, Sawyer.

 

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