Well it was a long and troubled birth, and a snowstorm confined the keynote speaker to an electronic feed, but officials in Providence, R.I. on Monday finally launched the groundbreaking non-profit education management organization that will work to turn around the city’s lowest-performing public schools.

United Providence — or UP! — is a novel collaboration between the Providence TeacheContinue Reading »

More exciting times for Providence teachers, who received dismissal notices this week…

Like many states and districts, Providence is facing the kind of budget woes that will likely lead to staff reductions for the 2011-12 school year.  Without yet knowing how deep these cuts will have to be (and therefore what kinds of cuts would make the most sense), the district gave notice to alContinue Reading »

Just to take a step back from what’s happening day-to-day in the Central Falls, RI negotiations over a once-potential mass firing of teachers, consider this timeline of Providence Journal stories:

Just returned from Providence where I spent two days learning about Rhode Island’s diploma system, which includes a number of performance-based assessment requirements. Today at Portsmouth High School I saw students present their senior projects to groups of teachers, classmates, and outside community judges. Beginning this year, to graduate, all 200+ seniors at Portsmouth are required toContinue Reading »