Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Education officials are inviting Rhode Islanders to share their ideas about how to improve schools over the next month at a series of community forums in five different communities.

Deborah Gist

State Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist is pursuing a portion of $4.35 billion in competitive federal grants designed to reward states that embrace education reform, and says she needs public input that "will help us to submit a first-caliber application."

The Race to the Top fund represents the largest-ever federal investment in education reform. The U.S. Department of Education is also offering $650 million in innovation grants to school districts.

States and districts that win the grants will receive tens of millions of dollars.
Gist said she wants to share her priorities with residents and hear their views on ways to improve the education system.

"The federal Race to the Top funds could bring unprecedented resources to Rhode Island to help us transform education," Gist said in a letter sent to education and community leaders.

"The U.S. Department of Education will distribute these funds to states that have both made progress and shown promise in four vital areas: improving teacher effectiveness; accelerating the performance of low-performing schools; establishing world-class standards and assessments; and developing user-friendly data systems."

Since Gist became the state's top education chief July 1, she has announced several initiatives to improve teacher quality including raising the bar for becoming a teacher and ending teacher assignment based on seniority.

Gist appointed a 23-member steering committee to help the state develop a strong application, and three philanthropic organizations donated $245,000 to help the Rhode Island Department of Education hire experts and prepare a strategy for effective reform.

Four of the five forums have been scheduled, all at 6 p.m. The date and time of a Providence meeting has not yet been set. Here is the schedule:

• Nov. 9 at the East Bay Educational Collaborative, 317 Market St., Warren.
• Nov. 17 at the Northern R.I. Collaborative, 640 George Washington Highway, Lincoln.
• Nov. 23 at Toll Gate High School, 575 Centerville Rd., Warwick.
• Dec. 2 at Southern R.I. Educational Collaborative, 646 Camp Ave., North Kingstown.

For more information, visit the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Web site.

 Tags  Deborah A. Gist education Race to the Top

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