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. Democratic Committee issues no endorsement for governor or lieutenant governor – The Boston Globe
PROVIDENCE – In an unusual move, the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee issued no endorsement for the incumbent governor and lieutenant governor on Saturday.
Incumbent Governor Daniel J. McKee received 82 votes, while his challenger, former CVS executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes, received 73 votes. There were 11 votes for no endorsement, including from the party chair, Liz Beretta-Perik.
To secure an endorsement, a candidate needs 50 percent of the votes cast plus one vote. McKee needed 84 votes to secure the endorsement, so he came up two votes short.
Party officials said they could not recall the last time the committee did not endorse an incumbent Democratic governor. Beretta-Perik later said she voted for no endorsement because she needed to stay neutral.
McKee left the Teamsters Local 251 union hall in East Providence soon after the vote, without talking to reporters. In a statement sent soon after, however, he declared the outcome “a victory for our campaign” and noted he received “the largest margin in today’s endorsement vote.”
“We will win again in September,” he said in the statement. “Rhode Islanders have a clear choice: a governor who has spent every day fighting for working families, or a corporate executive who has spent her career fighting for corporate profits in the boardroom. I know which side I’m on — and today, Rhode Island Democrats made clear they do too.”
Part of the reason McKee came up two votes short of an endorsement is that his former special adviser, Eva-Marie Mancuso, voted for Foulkes.
As she walked into the Teamsters hall, Mancuso said, “I think we need new leadership. I’m ready.”
Mancuso — a former Rhode Island Board of Education chairwoman who left the McKee administration in 2023 to take a job with Bryant University — said a big part of her decision had to do with the decision by McKee, a long-time charter school advocate, to sign a bill that places a three-year moratorium on new charter schools and permanently lowers the cap on the total number.
“That was a big, big deal,” she said. “I mean, that just shows that he’s really lost focus of what the state needs.”
When McKee beat Foulkes in the 2022 Democratic primary, McKee was filmed telling Mancuso to hang up on Foulkes as he was prepared to deliver his victory speech. On Saturday, Mancuso said, “I took her call.”
The Democratic committee also did not endorse a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Out of 162 votes, incumbent Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos received just 55 votes, while former Newport mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong received 71. Providence City Council member Sue AnderBois received 15 votes, and former state senator Cynthia Coyne got 13. Eight people voted for no endorsement.
The committee did not endorse anyone in the race to replace term-limited Attorney General Peter F. Neronha.
State Representative Joseph J. Solomon Jr. received 73 votes, former state Cannabis Control Commission chairwoman Kim Ahern received 42 votes, former attorney general policy chief Keith Hoffman received 22 votes, and state Representative Jason Knight received 12 votes, while 10 voted for no endorsement.
A total of 159 committee members voted, so 80 votes were needed to secure the endorsement.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
(WJAR) — Rhode Island will begin phasing out the sale of certain rat poisons after Gov. Dan McKee signed new legislation into law Thursday, making the Ocean State the second in the nation to adopt restrictions on the products.
The law targets first- and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, commonly used to control rats and mice.
Supporters say the poisons are harming wildlife, while critics argue they are among the most effective tools available to manage rodent populations.
Under the law, the sale of first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides will be prohibited beginning March 1, 2027.
Restrictions on second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides will take effect Jan. 1, 2028. A statewide prohibition on both types is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2029.
Licensed commercial applicators and certain public health, agricultural and municipal uses are exempt from the restrictions.
Supporters said birds of prey such as hawks, owls and eagles are particularly vulnerable because they consume poisoned rodents. (WJAR file photo)
The legislation was backed by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, which says the poisons can move through the food chain and kill predators that feed on rodents.
“Across the country, and again, with Rhode Island making this move, the second only to California, we’ve seen just too many cases of off-species targets either being sickened or worse with these rodenticides,” said Maxwell McFarland, director of advocacy for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.
McFarland said birds of prey such as hawks, owls and eagles are particularly vulnerable because they consume poisoned rodents.
“What we’re seeing is these are accumulating in the natural predators meant to manage these rodent populations,” McFarland said. “So primarily our hawks, owls and eagles.”
According to McFarland, wildlife rehabilitators in Rhode Island have documented widespread exposure to the poisons among injured birds brought into their care.
“They’ve had hundreds of raptors admitted into their care over the past couple of years, and every single one has shown signs of anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning,” he said.
Supporters of the law say reducing the use of rodenticides will encourage communities to adopt alternative pest-control methods, including improved sanitation, securing trash and sealing buildings to prevent rodent access.
The law also creates a voluntary municipal Integrated Pest Management pilot program aimed at helping communities transition away from anticoagulant rodenticides.
Not everyone supports the change.
Tony DeJesus, former vice president of Big Blue Bug Solutions, said the restrictions will make it more difficult for homeowners and businesses to control rats and mice. (WJAR)
Tony DeJesus, former vice president of Big Blue Bug Solutions, said the restrictions will make it more difficult for homeowners and businesses to control rats and mice.
“It’s gonna have a major impact on our business. And not only that, but on the homeowners,” DeJesus said.
DeJesus said over-the-counter rodent control products commonly used by homeowners will no longer be available once the law takes effect.
“Homeowners will not be able to go out anymore and buy things like Decon and some of the other over-the-counter baits once this goes into effect,” he said.
He also expressed concern about the impact on restaurants and public health.
“The main thing is that when we start talking about how this is gonna affect it, rats carry disease,” DeJesus said. “Food poisoning is associated with both rats and mice in restaurants and things.”
DeJesus pointed to California, which enacted similar restrictions, as a cautionary example.
“The proof in the pudding is the state of California that did the same thing three years ago,” he said. “And now Los Angeles has been voted the rattiest city in the United States.”
McFarland said the legislation provides communities and pest-control companies with time to adapt before the restrictions fully take effect.
“We believe that it’s a fair timeline where communities, municipalities and pest management companies can learn, unlearn rather, the status quo of how they’re applying these rodenticides,” he said.
The Audubon Society said Rhode Island’s law follows similar action taken in California and comes as other New England states consider comparable legislation.
State officials say the first restrictions under the new law will take effect in March 2027.
WARWICK, R.I. (WJAR) — The local community hosted a send-off celebration for Special Olympics Rhode Island athletes on Friday.
Twenty-four athletes, along with partners, coaches, and medical personnel, are traveling to Minneapolis for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.
The local community hosted a send-off celebration for Special Olympics Rhode Island athletes on Friday. (WJAR)
Textron hosted the team in a private jet for travel to the games, officials said.
“The USA Games represent months of dedication, hard work, and perseverance for our athletes,” President and CEO of Special Olympics Rhode Island Ed Pacheco said. “Our athletes, Unified partners, and coaches carry with them the hopes and aspirations of achieving gold while representing the very fabric of our great state. This journey would not be possible without Textron, and we are incredibly grateful for their support in creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Team Rhode Island as they travel to compete on the national stage.”
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Officials said the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games will be held from Saturday through next Friday.
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