PROVIDENCE – From breaking the news that the state would take control of the Providence school system to explaining what the intervention might mean for students and teachers, the Boston Globe has covered multiple facets of Rhode Island’s efforts to overhaul the capital city’s schools.
To make it easier for readers follow all of our coverage on Providence’s schools, we’ve created a one-stop guide of the significant stories in the unfolding drama.
Will Rhode Island take over Providence schools?
Three weeks before researchers at Johns Hopkins University released a scathing report on the city’s schools, the Globe published a story outlining many of the key challenges Providence was facing.
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The condition of Providence’s schools had a review team in tears
The report from Johns Hopkins was devastating. Our story broke down the major findings and included a memorable quote from Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green, who said she wouldn’t send her children to any school in the city In another look at the report, we focused on then-Superintendent Chris Maher’s candid thoughts on his school district.
The fallout from the Johns Hopkins report
In a series of stories in July, we looked at Commissioner Infante-Green’s truth-telling tour to parents, Mayor Jorge Elorza’s willingness to support a state takeover of Providence schools, and the role charter schools might play in the intervention process.
The takeover
We broke the story that the state would seek to take control of Providence schools on July 18, and then we dove into whether it was legal and identified some of the unanswered questions about the plan. We also asked five of Providence’s best teachers how they would improve schools.
Will the business community step up to save Providence schools?
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In Rhode Map, our free daily news briefing that you can subscribe to here, we asked the head of one of the state’s top business groups what his organization was planning to do to support Providence.
Providence has a chronic absenteeism problem
Our review of attendance data for the 2018-19 school year found for more than 50 percent of the city’s high school students were absent for at least 10 percent of the school year.
It’s not just Providence
While state leaders have focused on the capital city, many other districts in the state are struggling. Rhode Island’s test scores nearly mirror the results put up by students in Fall River, one of the lowest-performing districts in Massachusetts.
Dan McGowan, who has covered the Providence school story, can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @danmcgowan.