Rhode Island
Report gives R.I. education website failing grade for transparency on learning loss since pandemic • Rhode Island Current
The pandemic profoundly slowed students’ learning in schools, with kids missing out on academics, social life and other important developments. Have things improved since then? It’s hard to know, based on the longitudinal data states present on pandemic learning loss.
When it comes to presenting data about the pandemic’s impacts on learning, Rhode Island and 12 other states are flunking, according to a report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) released Thursday. The center is based at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.
Statewide data systems on public schools’ performance metrics — like graduation rates, attendance, student test scores, and per-pupil expenditures — are comparable to the report cards students receive. Publicly accessible, these report cards are meant to keep schools accountable in their delivery of a quality education, and might provide a fuller picture of the pandemic’s long-term ramifications for learning. The researchers specifically look at longitudinal data, or changes over time.
“How easy would it be for an interested parent or advocate to find key performance indicators and compare them pre- and post-COVID?” the researchers asked.
The accountability report card system maintained by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) received an F grade because it was hard to find and compare performance metrics from before 2020 and in recent years, according to the report’s lead author.
“Reviewers found it very hard to find prior years of data [for Rhode Island],” said Morgan Polikoff, a professor at University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education who led the six-person research team. “Since our report was mainly focused on the availability of longitudinal data, the state got an F for that reason.”
“But there were things they liked, like the ‘at a glance’ landing page for each school and the little qualitative summaries that seemed to be written by school principals,” Polikoff said.
More context wanted, but still some positive notes
Polikoff said the research team would have liked more context on the summary page, like answering if a school is on track or not, but they also made positive notes about the presentation of data on student subgroups and the school narrative section. The narratives, usually written by principals, “could be a model for other states to consider” as Polikoff said.
RIDE updated the Report Card layout in the last year, emphasizing achievement and proficiency numbers front and center on individual school, district and statewide profiles. Statewide proficiency in English Language Arts was at 35.1% in the 2022-2023 school year, for example — a number prominent on the report card’s first page.
But the first page of the 2018-2019 report card is formatted differently and doesn’t immediately share this figure. That makes comparing pre- and post-COVID data tricky for those unacquainted with RIDE’s site.
Longitudinal data may be easier to understand when condensed by organizations who already comb through state data, like the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which makes academic progress over time easily deciphered in its KIDS COUNT Factbook.
While academic achievements have seen somewhat sluggish recovery, chronic absenteeism has more vigorously pursued a corrective course, with RIDE attributing the positive change partly to its absenteeism dashboard, which has seen praise and national attention in recent months. (The dashboard is run separately from the overall report card system.) Last month, the education department also shared results of a Harvard Graduate School of Education study that showed Providence schools are doing a little better post-pandemic than comparable districts in other New England states.
“As the report notes, this is a challenge for most states,” Victor Morente, RIDE spokesperson, said in an email Thursday evening. “RIDE is working to better inform all education stakeholders including students, families, and educators about how their school community is doing including identified areas of strength and of needed improvement in the wake of the pandemic.”
Morente added that the agency is “committed to continuous improvement and is currently undertaking changes to its accountability system,” which includes amending the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act State Plan. Public comments on the amendment were accepted through Sept. 2 and are currently being reviewed.
How states were evaluated
The six-person research team evaluated each state’s public school report card system on seven performance metrics. The researchers then assigned points based on how easy it was to find longitudinal data on the metrics — or, in other words, how easy it was to compare the metrics from before, during and after the pandemic. The scores, with 21 points the maximum possible, were then converted to letter grades. Rhode Island scored six points overall, which converted to an F grade.
The seven metrics included:
- Achievement levels in English Language Arts and mathematics
- Growth in in English Language Arts and mathematics achievements
- Proficiency in science
- Proficiency in social studies
- Chronic absenteeism or other attendance indicators
- High school graduation rate
- English language learner proficiency or growth
An additional qualitative rating was assigned to each state for their report card’s usability. Rhode Island received a “fair” rating in this additional category, but researchers’ main gripe with RIDE’s report card was the difficulty involved in finding data — they found pre- and post-COVID data on six metrics only “with too much difficulty,” and one metric (social studies) was not found at all.
Citing nationwide, post-pandemic trends in declining academic achievements, attendance and equity for marginalized students, the report argues that Rhode Island is one of the states that doesn’t effectively share data about changes in public school learning since the pandemic.
“How transparent are these trends to parents or other interested parties?” the report’s six authors asked. “We have lots of suggestive evidence that parents don’t understand the magnitude of the COVID-19 downturns in achievement or attendance, or at least aren’t as concerned as experts think they should be. Is that because school report cards aren’t leveling with parents about how these outcomes have changed since before the pandemic?”
Maine, Vermont also receive F
In the new CRPE study, Connecticut fared the best of all New England states, with an A grade for its report card data on COVID, while New Hampshire was second highest with a C grade. Massachusetts received a D, and Maine and Vermont joined Rhode Island in the F group. Maine was one of three states to score zero points overall — “not necessarily because these states have terrible report cards…[but because] these states’ report cards do not make longitudinal comparisons back to pre-COVID possible for the average user,” according to the report.
Alas, Rhode Island was not alone in its at-times confusing presentation of pandemic-related data.
“Some sites featured attractive visuals that we thought a parent would be able to interpret. In contrast, other sites bombarded the user with mountains of disaggregated data that would be very difficult, if not impossible, for an average viewer without a Ph.D. in data science to understand,” the authors state. “On some sites, the menus for searching and selecting schools were easy to use, while on others, they were sources of maddening frustration.”
Among the most vexing was Vermont, which the report used as an example of poor user-oriented design.
“Vermont offers a series of dashboards that are incredibly challenging to operate or interpret. They are slow, they don’t seem to allow for obvious data export, and the figures and tables they produce are hard to understand,” the report concluded.
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Rhode Island
R.I. House Finance budget phases in millionaires tax over three years – The Boston Globe
In January, Governor Daniel J. McKee touched off a debate about a millionaires tax by proposing a state budget that would impose a 8.99 percent tax rate on personal income of more than $1 million — a 3 percentage point increase over the current top bracket that would have generated $67 million in fiscal year 2027.
The House Finance budget would phase in that millionaires tax by raising that top rate by 1 percentage point per year over three years — 6.99 percent for tax year 2027, 7.99 percent in 2028, and 8.99 percent for 2029. The move would generate an estimated $22 million in 2027, $68 million in 2028, $115 million in 2029, and $142 million in 2030.
Blazejewski said phasing in the millionaires tax will help Rhode Island deal with federal funding cuts as they take effect in the years ahead. Advocates see that tax as a crucial source of funding for essential programs amid federal cuts, he noted, while opponents predict it will hurt small businesses and drive away rich residents.
“We thought this strikes the right balance here for our state, given the situation we’re in with the federal government,” Blazejewski said. “We think this is a prudent way of increasing revenue over time, and then phasing it in, so it has less shock, it has more time to be absorbed, and then also comes online exactly when we need it.”
Rhode Island is pursuing a millionaires tax three years after Massachusetts imposed a 4 percent millionaires tax on top of its 5 percent income tax, raising billions in revenue. On May 25, the Globe reported that the Massachusetts surtax on that state’s highest earners has already generated more than $3.1 billion in revenue this fiscal year, with two months remaining — surpassing the $2.4 billion projected.
Inspector general
The House Finance budget includes $1.3 million to fund an independent inspector general’s office staffed with 12 full-time employees who will investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in state government.
Blazejewski called for creating an inspector general’s office soon after becoming House speaker on May 7. The move by the state’s most progressive House speaker came as a surprise to some because Republicans have long made the inspector general’s office a top legislative priority.
But Blazejewski noted he introduced inspector general legislation in 2015. On Friday, he said the federal government is cutting funding at the same time the state has seen “high-profile state failures” such as the closure of the Washington Bridge westbound and the botched rollout of a $99 million state payroll system.
McKee and Republican lieutenant governor candidate John J. Loughlin II questioned why Blazejewski wants the inspector general to oversee the executive branch — but not the Legislature.
On Friday, Blazejewski noted that voters approved a separation of powers amendment to the state Constitution in 2004 to ensure the three branches of government are separate and distinct, and that the inspector general’s office would be an administrative agency of the executive branch.
“If you allow the executive office to run roughshod over the Legislature, the judiciary, you no longer have three branches of government,” Blazejewski said. “It’s not original to Rhode Island. It’s a fundamental principle of government.“
RIDOT audit
The budget includes an audit of maintenance work by the state Department of Transportation. “We just have had too many high-profile failures, and we need to conduct an audit as to the maintenance program,” Blazejewski said.
The budget also removes the Department of Transportation director as chairman of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. Former DOT director Peter Alviti Jr. began serving as chairman of the bus agency’s board in 2023. But Blazejewski said, “We just think it’s a conflict of interest.” The DOT director can continue to serve on the board, but not as chairman, he said.
No line-item veto
The House Finance budget rejects McKee’s call for placing a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters to give the governor line-item veto power, which would allow him to strike specific items from the budget without having to approve or veto the entire bill.
Last year, McKee refused to sign the state budget approved by the General Assembly because it raised taxes and fees, but he did not veto the bill. And McKee noted that 43 other states have some form of line-item veto authority.
But Blazejewski said, “That line item veto is about changing the power structure between the governor and the General Assembly,” and the current process works with the governor proposing a budget and legislators passing a budget. Other states have had “issues” with the line item veto, he said, noting Wisconsin’s governor used that power to delete words, numbers, and punctuation from a bill to change its meaning.
Budget exceeds $15 billion
The budget totals a record $15.2 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1, marking an increase over the $14.859 billion proposed by McKee.
In August, the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council warned that the state’s rate of spending was not sustainable. And in the Republican response to McKee’s State of the State, House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale said the state budget has grown by 200 percent since 2000, when it was about $4.5 billion.
URI medical school funding
The House Finance budget includes $5 million as an initial investment in creating a medical school at the University of Rhode Island.
The Senate had included that proposal in a 17-bill package aimed at strengthening the state’s strained health care system. Blazejewski said the medical school will help alleviate the state’s severe shortage of primary care doctors in the future.
Tax on Social Security
The House Finance budget includes the first year of McKee’s proposal to eliminate state personal income taxes on Social Security benefits over three years.
Under current law, taxpayers who have reached full Social Security retirement age (67 or older) and have incomes of less than $107,000 for single filers, or $133,750 for joint filers, are exempt from state income tax on Social Security income. The House agreed to eliminate the current minimum age threshold.
Child tax credit
The House Finance budget does not adopt McKee’s proposal to replace an existing tax deduction for dependents with a new child tax credit that would refund families $325 on their taxes per child, per year.
But it does build on the existing tax deduction structure and adds a $330 child tax credit to help lower income families. Blazejewski said the new system “costs a little bit more but gives even more of a benefit to families in Rhode Island.”
Bond questions
The budget includes a record $600 million in bond questions on the November ballot, but it modifies some of the proposals in McKee’s budget.
- Blazejewski said McKee’s budget “underfunded” an integrated health building at URI. So the budget provides $275 million (rather than $215 million) for the state’s three colleges, including $165 million (rather than $105 million) for the URI building, $50 million to renovate Rhode Island College’s Adams Library; and $60 million for a workforce innovation center at the Community College of Rhode Island.
- $120 million for housing, including $25 million for producing housing units for homeownership.
- $100 million (rather than $115 million) for economic development, including $55 million (rather than $70 million) for site development at the Quonset Business Park and I-195 District.
- $50 million for the “cultural economy,” including $45 million for a State History Center that would display the state’s founding documents.
- $55 million for “green economy bonds.” Blazejewski said, “Our caucus spoke over and over about making the green bond greener, and we’ve done just that.“
- The House budget eliminated the $50 million McKee proposed for Career and Technical Education. Blazejewski said testimony indicated the proposal was underfunded even at $50 million, “so we’re going to go back to the drawing board.”
Energy proposals
The House Finance budget adopts some, but not all, of McKee’s proposals for lowering energy bills.
House Majority Whip Katherine S. Kazarian, an East Providence Democrat, said the budget expands the renewable energy standard to including hydro and nuclear energy, which will result in savings.
But she said the budget would reject McKee’s plan to push back the 2033 deadline to reach 100 percent renewable energy sources for state electricity until 2050. “We’re going to continue to keep that 2033 deadline, which is really important to our caucus and, frankly, to the renewable energy investments that have come to the state,” she said.
Central Falls schools
The budget returns the Central Falls school district to local control after 35 years of state control. Blazejewski said this was a priority of Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera.
Domestic violence calendar
The House budget includes $600,000 to hire three full-time employees and create a domestic violence calendar in state Superior Court to address a backlog of 1,200 felony domestic violence cases.
The House Finance Committee voted 11 to 2 to send the budget to the House floor for a vote next Friday, June 5.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Health professionals are warning Rhode Islanders to look out for a fast-moving threat in the brush this summer: the Lone star tick.
NBC 10’s Martha Konstandinidis went out to see the increase in ticks firsthand and has some simple steps to protect your family.
(WJAR) — The Rhode Island House has passed a Bill that offers a rare alternative when considering end-of-life options: water cremation and human composting.
These processes are actually considered better for the environment.
Instead of being rooted in flames during cremation, remains are placed in water and no greenhouse gases are released.
Tom Harries, CEO of Earth Funeral – Green Funeral Home, explains the natural organic reduction also known as human composting, process while standing in front of an actual vessel in the warehouse during a tour at their new location, which will open in Elkridge. Eventually it will house 126 vessels. Jeffrey F. Bill/Baltimore Sun)
Last year NBC 10 was able to get a first-hand look into how it works.
The John F. Tierney Funeral Home in Connecticut became one of the first in Southern New England to offer water cremation or “Aquamation” for humans.
Remains are placed into a machine, and water begins to circulate, leaving bone material behind.
Human composting uses fertile soil to break down remains.
Lawmakers on both sides spoke before the vote.
It passed 47-17.
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It now heads to the Senate.
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