The recent release of GoLocalProv’s report on the Top High Schools in Rhode Island 2015 highlighted disappointing weaknesses in Providence public high schools that are undermining efforts to improve the future of the capital city.
SLIDES: See RI's Top High Schools 2015 BELOW
The report provided most readers with zero surprises – as in past years, the best high schools are getting better; the high schools with poor graduation rates are offering explanations. The principals of the best schools brag about the innovative teaching methods and practices they are implementing to further improve their graduation rates. In Providence, there was no bragging. If three out of ten students enrolled in your community high school do not graduate and many more leave school with poor reading and writing skills, what’s to brag about? Not one Providence high school made the top 20% of the 51 schools profiled.
While the reasons may vary, it always seems the schools with consistently poor results are excused by a revolving door cadre of public school apologists. Their unoriginal justifications for the weak results year after year and decade after decade are the students, their families, and the poverty of the communities where they live. Their backgrounds are described as “substandard.” Any other large organization with a multi-hundred million dollar budget ($363 million+ in 2015-16) that year after year produced such mediocre results would face an immediate management shake-up, personnel dismissals, and a complete re-structuring in order to obtain better results.
Speaking From Experience
In my past experience teaching in Providence high schools – Hope, Mount Pleasant – the backgrounds of the students and their families were never “substandard.” But each individual school’s approach to teaching students with different life, language and cultural experiences WAS “substandard” and wholly incapable of achieving superior education outcomes for those students. Substantial innovation and customization are needed to improve how we teach each student in each school.
Think of it this way. When a local business or institution observes a change in its target customer base, whether through shifting demographics, evolving economic cycles, or the rise of new competitors, that organization must quickly adapt its product and service offerings to stay relevant or suffer lower sales, financial losses and even bankruptcy. Managers adopt new strategies, new products, new delivery methods, new packaging, and new sales methods to continue to achieve success in spite of the market changes. Chain stores with units located in different neighborhoods often customize their offerings, prices and even hours in each community.
Providence has been in the education business for more than half a century. A business with a success rate of 56.3% would not be in business very long. Yet, that is the graduation rate at Central High School. If your heart only beat 56.4% of the time, you would be dead. Yet, that is the student graduation rate at Mt. Pleasant High School. If the food at your favorite restaurant was only good 71.7% of the time, you would stop going there to eat. Yet, that is the graduation rate at Hope High School.
Providence’s school department employs hundreds of teachers and administrators with college degrees, even graduate degrees. So, with all this brain power and centuries of combined teaching experience, where are the clever and innovative strategies to address the well-known challenges of teaching students from low-income, multi-lingual, recent immigrant families? And what is the big hold up? Why haven’t the best teaching practices in the world been adopted, customized, and applied to improving the learning performance of students in our capital city’s high schools?
The high dropout rate at the city’s high schools negatively affects the state’s ability to keep jobs here and undermines every other state program to attract new companies to relocate in Rhode Island. Unless we lose our patience, stop accepting these poor results, and fix this, we may all be rightly charged with complicity in frustrating the achievement of the full potential of our young people.
According to the Gallup organization, “Student graduation is one of the most definitive predictors of [a] city’s future innovation, entrepreneurship, and subsequent job and GDP growth.” The dropout problem is not just a school problem, it is a whole city-state problem. It can be and must be fixed.
The time for action is now.
So, where is the city leader -- whether educator, politician, or parent – who will lead a declaration of war against the dropout problem now, fix the schools, and save the future of the city of Providence?
Kenneth Proudfoot is an entrepreneur, author, teacher, songwriter, filmmaker, and gyotaku print artist. He serves businesses as a strategic marketing consultant and raises money as a grant writer for non-profit organizations.
Related Slideshow: Top High Schools in Rhode Island 2015
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Ed Cooley (Providence College men's basketball coach) and Marvin Barnes (2nd overall draft pick in the 1974 NBA draft).
Claim to Fame: School principal Scott Sutherland was named Rhode Island Principal of the Year in 2014 by the Rhode Island Association of School Principals.
Claim to Fame: Michaela Keegan, principal of W.B. Cooley High School, was awarded the First Year Principal of the Year in 2013-14 by the Rhode Island Association of School Principals.
Claim to Fame: Hope High School was founded in 1898, and has notable alumni such as: Richard S. Aldrich (former RI Representative), Ray Jarvis (former Boston Red Sox player), and H. P. Lovecraft (horror author).
Claim to Fame: A structure based on the Diploma Plus Model fosters positive relationships between parents, students, teachers, and administrators and creates powerful learning experiences that will motivate students to grow and succeed.
Claim to Fame: The Central Falls School District gained nation attention when in 2010 they fired their entire teaching staff while in a disagreement with the teacher's union. Ultimately the Obama Administration sided with the school board.
In a more positive light, Central Fall’s Chess Team has experienced incredible success and finished in the top 10 at a national tournament that had over 5,000 competitors, as well as receiving funding from star powerhouses such as Alec Baldwin’s Foundation.
Claim to Fame: Paul Cuffee School has a maritime theme that is incorporated throughout its educational programs and takes full advantage of the local waterways of Providence.
Claim to Fame: Times 2 Academy constantly exposes its students to guest speakers, internship opportunities, college fairs and job shadowing opportunities to encourage their students to embrace their futures.
Claim to Fame: The school offers a Entrepreneur 360 Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a 60-hour program for students supported by NFTE. Students learn about the concepts and the skills necessary to create a business, sharpen their work ethic and help grow their confidence.
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include: Peter Kilmartin (Rhode Island state representative and current attorney general), Kevin Lima (Disney animator and film director of the films A Goofy Movie, Tarzan, 102 Dalmatians, Eloise at the Plaza, Eloise at Christmastime, and Enchanted), and Abraham Nathanson (developer of the game Bananagrams).
Claim to Fame: The school sports a School Improvement Team that brings staff, students, community members, and parents together once a month to have their voices heard concerning how the school can be tailored for success.
Claim to Fame: Famous athletic alumni include Tom Mellow (played in the NHL, won a silver medal at the 1972 Olympics), Vinny Pazienza (former World Champion professional boxer), Mike Stenhouse (played in the MLB for the Expos and Boston Red Sox), Curt Bennett (an All-Star NHL player), Joe Cavanagh (Captained Harvard University’s hockey and tennis teams), Ray Jamieson (Oakland Raider’s fullback), Greg Oden (New England Champion Springboard Diver).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Jamie Silva (Indianapolis Colts free safety), Claudia Jordan (model and reality TV star), T.J. Del Santo (Meterologist at WPRI-TV), Brent Martineau (Sportscaster), David Franklin (Scientist/Entrepreneur), Kim Schifino (Musician in Matt and Kim), Jennifer Lee (co-writer of Disney’s Wreck It Ralph).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Bebe Buell (model, singer, mother of actress Liv Tyler), The Cowsills (family singing act that was the inspiration for TV’s The Partridge Family), Tanya Donelly (co-founder and guitarist of the band Throwing Muses), Joanna Going (actress) Paul Gordon (keyboardist and guitarist for the B-52’s and the Goo Goo Dolls), Kristin Hersh (co-founder of Throwing Muses), P.H. Horgan III (PGA Tour player), Van Johnson (actor), John Mellekas (professional football player), David Narcizo (drummer for the band Throwing Muses), M. Teresa Paiva-Weed (President of the Rhode Island Senate), Jerry Sullivan (sports columnist at The Buffalo News), Noah Jewell (Olympic gymnast).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Mark van Eeghen (former NFL Pro Bowl running back and the only person ever from Cranston West to have their number retired in any sport), Anthony Meo (baseball player), Jeff Diehl (baseball player), Tom Denucci (actor), Amber van Eeghen (former cheerleader for the New England Patriots).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include David Macaulay (author and Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator), Aaron Fricke (gay rights activist), Johnny Goryl (MLB player for Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins), Jon LaRose (MLB player for Boston Red Sox), Daniel Stewart (first openly gay elected mayor in New York State history-Mayor of Plattsburgh, New York), Linda Nochlin (leading abstract expressionist artist), Peter and Bobby John Farrelly (film directors, producers, authors), Suzanne Martin (Emmy-award winning television producer), and Annette Nazareth (a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission).
Claim to Fame: Davies ensures that Parents are heavily involved in the curriculum through the Parent Involvement Policy, which is a program supporting the development, implementation, and regular evaluation that includes parents in all grade levels.
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Bill Almon (baseball player who played in the MLB from 1974 through 1988) and Damian Costantino (baseball player, set NCAA record with hits in 60 consecutive games while playing at Salve Regina in Newport).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include James Woods (Emmy-award winning actor), Chris Terreri (College All-American, Olympian, and two time Stanley Cup winning NHL goalie), Patrick Sheehan (PGA professional golfer), Dan Wheeler (Major League Baseball pitcher).
Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing and Visual Arts
2014 Rank: #33
Enrollment: 192
Claim to Fame: The schools shares prestigious artistic patnerships with RISD, Sandra-Feinstein Gamm Theatre, Fusionworks Dance Company, Athletics, Pawtucket Boys and Girls Club, Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School, and Aurea.
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Janice Anderson (Assistant Production Manager of Cirque de Soleil), Tom Cavanagh (Forward, Worcester Sharks), Sara DeCosta (Goalie, 1998 and 2002 U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team), Tony Petrarca (Chief Meteorologist, WPRI-TV), Brian Shanley (President of Providence College), David Petrarca (Director whose work has included Big Love, True Blood, and Hung for HBO; over 40 world premieres including Marvin’s Room on Broadway and West End, Fuddy Meers in NYC, and A Year With Frog and Toad on Broadway).
Claim to Fame: Students have the opportunity to bask in the spotlight in the Husky News Network (HNN), a student news organization where students can serve as anchors, camera men, and content writers.
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Ernie DiGregorio (basketball player, played for the PC Friars and holds the NBA assist record for a single game with 25. He was also the 1973-74 NBA Rookie of the Year).
Claim to Fame: Students have the opportunity to work in The Confucius Classroom, a public educational institute established in collaboration with the Confucius Institute at Bryant University under the sponsorship of Hanban. The classroom is dedicated to developing globally competent students through an understanding Chinese culture, language, and economic trends.
Claim to Fame: Former RI Governors who attended Classical are John Orlando Pastore (Also a US Senator), Bruce Sundlun, and Frank Licht.
Other famous alumni include S. J. Perelman (American Humorist) Rudolph Fisher (pioneering Black radiologist and writer of the Harlem Renaissance), Irving R. Levine (Former NBC News Economics Correspondent), George Macready (American actor), A.O. Scott (Chief New York Times Movie Critic), Stanley Fish (Literary theorist and legal scholar), Michael Kang (Filmmaker), C. M. Eddy, Jr. (Renowned Author), Lauren Corrao (Comedy Central executive; helped develop That '70s Show and Mad TV for Fox),William A. Barnett (Economist), Robin Green (Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning television producer for The Sopranos and Northern Exposure, among others), S. Hastings Richardson (Author) Alexander Knight (Poet), Angel Taveras (First Latino Mayor of Providence).
Claim to Fame: Scituate High School’s “Schools for Schools” club has raised thousands of dollars for Invisible Children to help Uganda defeat the children soldier crisis there.
Claim to Fame: The school is heated entirely by recycled wood chips in order to preserve the environment. The school also sports an Energy Lab that enables students to develop career pathways in stem agriculture. Their colors are green, and so is their mindset.
Claim to Fame: Middletown High School has enacted a specific Professional Learning Community in 2013, a program geared to make fundamental shift from focusing on teaching to an area of learning where students and teachers collaborate.
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Dr. Thomas DiPaola (Education leader in RI), Henry Nardone, Sr. (Member of URI Foundation, RI Board of Regents), Dennis Algiere (Current RI Senate Minority Leader), Dr. John Toscano, (Chairman of Dept. of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University), Daryl Finizio (Lawyer, New London Mayoral candidate, Westerly City Council), Peter Lewiss (RI State rep, judge, lawyer) Diana Blanda (Actress/Singer).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Jhumpa Lahiri (Author), Erika Van Pelt (Finalist on American Idol Season 11), and Uriah Duffy (Former bassist of Whitesnake).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include David Cicilline (US Congressman and former Mayor of Providence) and John DeCubellis (lawyer/judge, General Counsel to National Education Association RI).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Bill Reynolds (Providence Journal Sports Columnist), Phil Madeira (Award-winning Songwriter/Musician), Judy Clapp (Recording Engineer who has worked with Dwight Yoakham and Bill Frisell), Brian Howe (Film and television actor), Marceline Hugot (Film, television and Broadway actress), Brett Quigley (PGA golfer), Shanna Moakler (Former Miss USA and Playboy Magazine model), Spalding Gray (Monologuist/Actor), and Matthew Broome (New England Amateur Golf Champion).
Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Donald Carcieri (Governor of RI), Suzanne Carcieri (First Lady of RI), Debra Messing (Actress), Mark Zito (Radio Host) and Leeann Tingley (2006 Miss Rhode Island USA).
