I worked in RI for several years, and when people wonder why
the schools stink, I can think of many reasons.

While there are a lot of really good teachers, there are some
who just work the system and bring the rest down.

Administrators who won't stand up to kids, who won't impose
consequences because they don't want to hear from parents or
are so afraid of their suspension rate showing as too high,
that a kid who swears at a teacher, disrupts class on a
regular basis gets sent right back to the class and the
teacher is told he or she is to blame.

8th graders working on 4th grade level or less in some
schools. All in the attempt to have everyone pass. Then the
kids say they want to go to college, but you know that there
is no way because they can't even write well enough to fill
out the application. But some teachers still give
assignments like "All About Me" projects to kids who are 15
and 16...they can't write a five paragraph essay, but they
sure can tell you that they like to watch "Gossip Girl".

NECAP tests...what a joke.

On 3/02/09, Neo wrote:
> A number (majority?) of schools in RI have their
> priorities mixed up, possibly due to the pressure to show
> positive results of state/fed programs. The common mantra
> heard throughout RI high schools is "Do whatever it takes
> to reduce the failure rate". To the general public this
> would mean differentiate instruction/assessment. Teachers
> have been doing this for years! To the insider, however,
> it means scale your tests, lower your expectations, pass a
> large majority of your students at any cost. This, of
> course, would explain why colleges are seeing higher and
> higher numbers of freshmen who require remedial reading,
> writing, and math. It's not incompetent teachers that are
> bringing the system to its knees, but we are the ones who
> are blamed. Public education is in a sad state these
> days. I don't know a single teacher that would advise
> his/her students to pursue a career in education. If I
> were younger I would change careers.
>
> From what I read on national forums RI is not unique.

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