In wake of charter debate, schools chief cites improvements in Providence schools

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The city’s schools superintendent on Thursday tried to address what he regards as “unnecessary and harmful rhetoric” stemming from the debate over charter school expansion in the city.

In a letter sent to school staff, the superintendent, Christopher N. Maher, cited statistics that show improvement, suggesting that such improvement counters a narrative that has minimized significant progress and characterized Providence’s public schools as as “stuck in a pattern of poor performance.”

“As your superintendent,” says Maher’s letter, “I am writing this message to assure you that the Providence Public School District is on the right path to success.”

Successes include improvements in a particular type of English language arts scores at 21 out of 22 schools. Students’ mathematics have improved at 22 out of 22 schools, says the letter.

Other successes include “a 42% decrease in out-of-school suspensions in the first two months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015” and “a significant decrease in chronic absenteeism achieved through a number of strategies,” Maher wrote.

A “dramatic expansion” of “personalized learning in the city’s schools has drawn experts from around the country interested in observing the city’s classrooms and learning from the system’s educational achievements, he wrote.

Maher’s letter, which details some other accomplishments, trails some lackluster news for the school system.

Twenty-two schools in Providence are struggling, according to the latest school classifications from the state Department of Education, which were reported in The Journal on Dec. 8.

In Providence, 15,000 children attend schools that the classifications designate as either “focus” or “priority” schools.

Priority schools exhibit the lowest performance in reading and math, “intolerable” gaps in student performance and show “little or no progress in improving student outcomes.

—mreynold@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @mrkrynlds