The Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education will vote Thursday to determine whether the controversial Achievement First network can establish its first two charter schools in Providence. The decision comes just months after Achievement First's application to open a mayoral academy in Cranston was rejected because of the district's financial concerns.
"I am hopeful we will conclude this week with an approval of Achievement First," said Education Commissioner Deborah Gist. "Their application this time is better than the first one, and they have made adjustments in response to community input."
Proponents view Achievement First, an organization that establishes public charter schools in the Northeast, as providing a potential model for education reform in Rhode Island. They cite above-average test scores from the Achievement First schools in New York and Connecticut and praise the organization's ability to provide personalized attention and help students overcome barriers to education, Gist said.
"Achievement First is one of the highest-performing charter school organizations in the country," Gist said. "It provides high-quality education that prepares students for success in college."
Gist also praised the organization's willingness to form partnerships with local school districts. An important part of its mission is to support districts in which the charter schools are located, and the organization is concerned about even those students not accepted to the charter school, she said.
Though the opening of the charter school has support from both Gist and Gov. Lincoln Chafee '75 P'14, local Providence officials have continued to express concern about the effects of Achievement First on the school district.
"I don't think it's good for our educational environment," said Bryan Principe, a member of the Providence City Council. "There is not one Achievement First school meeting adequate yearly progress standards."
Some members of the City Council have challenged the facts behind the numbers presented by Achievement First, arguing that some of the figures demonstrating the success of the charter management organization are misleading.
"They are professionals in selling the methods of what they do," Principe said. "In reality, they are not even meeting the metrics of our own students."
Opponents of Achievement First have cited its zero tolerance disciplinary model, high operation costs, inability to serve underprivileged students and transparency issues related to its status as a private company as reasons to reject the Providence charter school, according to WeCanRI.org.
"One of the reasons they were invited to come in the first place is because they supposedly help the neediest students, but this claim doesn't hold water," Principe said. "In one instance in Bushwick, they treated English language learners as special education students in violation of federal law."
The schools also do not serve enough students to justify the costs, Principe said. Though the fair funding formula was passed in 2010 to provide resources to the underfunded Providence district, the new resources will be drawn away from enacting "real reform" and toward "rolling the dice with the corporate-backed model through Achievement First" if the charter is approved, he said.
"Despite the issues public schools face, there are a lot of good things going on," Principe said. "We need to identify what is going right in our schools currently and spread this model across the district."
Principe said there are positive practices in the state's existing public schools that could be applied across the Providence school district.
"I expect the Regents to consider all the information before them and make the right decision based on that," Principe said. "Our public school district is not broken, but neglected."
