Providence’s Premier School - Classical - Falls From 5 Stars to 2 Stars Under State Control
Tuesday, January 09, 2024
The Rhode Island Department of Education has released its Report Card on the performance of schools in the state.
As part of the assessment, each school is given a star "accountability" ranking, with 5 stars being the best. SEE ALL SCHOOL RANKINGS HERE
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And, no school's ranking was more significant than the collapse of Classical High School, which was considered the gem of the Providence School system and often tapped as the best school in Rhode Island on national lists.
Before the State of Rhode Island’s takeover of Providence schools and COVID, Classical was a 5-star school.
According to the RIDE Report Card, “As required by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Rhode Island assigns a Star Rating to every public school, ranging from 1 to 5 stars.”
In the Monday assessment release, Classical has fallen to a 2-star school.
According to the RIDE ranking, Classical falls to the second lowest tier and is a school that needs to improve its performance.
Erlin Rogel, Chair of the Providence School Board said, "As a Classical alumnus, I can confidently state that it’s still one of the premier public learning institutions in the entire country. By every other metric assessed in this year’s accountability report, Classical is still near or at the top. Its two-star rating is not a reflection of a learning environment in decline but rather consistent with data derived from schools across the state."
"We need to be intentional and allocate more resources to educate our growing MLL [multilingual learners] student population. In Providence, we expect MLL students to make up 50% of our student population by 2030. The district will not be successful unless they’re successful," he added.
Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green provided the following statement on Classical's decline on Tuesday morning.
"Classical High School’s federally mandated Report Card shows that, overall, Classical continues to be an exemplary high school with most of its indicators either being 4 or 5 stars. Students and families can be confident that Classical remains an outstanding institution, and RIDE and PPSD will continue to support the school in offering every student a high-quality education," said Infante-Green.
"That said, the accountability system, which was first designed in 2016, proposes to identify areas of strength as well as place focus on areas for improvement to promote academic excellence for all students. Classical’s star rating reflects its English Language Proficiency (ELP) indicator which underscores a need to better support MLLs. In Providence, supporting MLLs is especially critical because the population is projected to reach 50% by 2030, and the district entered a settlement agreement to better serve English learners with the United States Department of Justice while under city control. The District has worked to help over 500 teachers earn their ESOL certification and remains committed to helping more educators receive the training and support they need to serve the growing MLL population," she added.
Once One of the Best in America
When U.S. News & World Report unveiled the 2021 Best High Schools list, it ranked more than 17,800 public high schools throughout the country, measuring how well schools serve students from various social and economic backgrounds.
The magazine used data for the ranking from the 2018-2019 academic year - before the state takeover.
Here is how U.S. News ranked RI's high schools that year:
1 Classical High School RI Providence
2 Barrington High School RI Barrington
3 East Greenwich High RI East Greenwich
4 Portsmouth High School RI Portsmouth
5 North Kingstown Sr. High RI North Kingstown
6 Blackstone Valley Prep High RI Blackstone Valley Prep A Ri Mayoral Academy
7 South Kingstown High RI South Kingstown
8 Exeter-West Greenwich Regional RI Exeter-West Greenwich
9 Paul Cuffee Upper School RI Paul Cuffee Charter School
10 Chariho High School RI Chariho
This story was first published1/8/24 6:24 PM. This story was updated at 11:11 AM on 1/9/24 with Infante-Green's comments.
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