We all know about the plans to fire and replace teachers at the struggling Central Falls in Rhode Island. But it turns out this event is part of a bigger and more interesting story.
First, the district is increasingly going charter. There are already five charters serving city kids; next year more than 10 percent of students will be in charters and that may double in the next few years.
Second, Rhode Island Mayoral Academies is a nontrivial player in this all. RIMA works with the state's mayors to set up high-performing charters by recruiting human capital and providing a range of services. The??first mayoral academy, Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley, is open and enrolling students from four districts including Central Falls (Democracy Prep began with a successful school in Harlem). A Democracy Prep middle school will open next year, and a second elementary school could be on the way. It looks like even more great new charters are imminent: through a partnership with RIMA,??Achievement First intends to expand to RI soon.
Many have explained the Central Falls shake-up as a result of the Obama administration's focus on meaningful interventions for failing schools and/or the state's desire to show gumption leading up to the Race to the Top competition. But perhaps this new schools push is also relevant. Not only do new entrants provide a bit of competition, more importantly, high-performing new schools show what's possible, raising the expectations of everyone involved. In other words, meek interventions for failing schools become untenable options.
Mike Magee, the head of RIMA (and, incidentally, brother to and brother-in-law of two top-flight ed reformers), seems to concur that all of these threads are intertwined.?????I think Commissioner Gist and Superintendent Gallo believe that it would be a mistake to take a narrow, make-or-break approach to turning around chronically failing schools. They have embraced the idea that high-performing public charter schools are a vital part of the solution.???
To his point, RIMA plays a significant role in Rhode Island's RTT application.
For me at least, these heretofore unreported contours shed valuable light on the Central Falls situation. They also provide an important takeaway for those working on addressing America's lowest performing schools: whether through RTT, SIG, or other initiatives, a new schools strategy is a critical component of the overall plan.
--Andy Smarick