From The Providence Journal (www.projo.com):
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- One of the state's two teachers' unions, the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals, has agreed to support the state's application to win a portion of the federal $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition -- a key endorsement that improves Rhode Island's chances of receiving tens of millions of dollars in education aid.
Marcia Reback, president of the union, which represents all of the state's urban school districts, said that the Providence Teachers' Union, which represents 2,000 teachers, decided to support the application and sent a signed memorandum to the Rhode Island Department of Education Monday morning.
In addition, Reback sent a letter to the department with the statewide union's endorsement, despite serious reservations about some of the proposed reforms.
"I said from the beginning that if any of my locals wanted to sign on, I would send a letter of support," Reback said. "So that's what I did."
Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals' 10 other locals declined to sign on to the application, which has received widespread support among superintendents and school committees. Currently 48 of the state's 50 school districts, charter schools and state operated schools have signed memoranda saying they want to embrace some or all of the reforms included in the application.
The National Education Association of Rhode Island, which represents most of the state's suburban and rural districts, has declined to endorse the plan even though one of its locals, Foster, also signed the memorandum.
"At this time, we see no reason to send a letter and don't think a letter would be helpful to the cause," said Robert A. Walsh Jr., executive director of the National Education Association of Rhode Island. "Our list of objections is quite extensive and has not been adequately addressed."
Nationally, teacher union support is also mixed. In Ohio, for example, both Cleveland and Cincinnati signed on. In Michigan, just 40 of 700 districts that wanted to participate also received union signatures.
Federal education officials have said that signatures of teachers' unions, while not required, greatly enhance a state's competitiveness.
Education commissioner Deborah A. Gist hopes to win more than $100 million to institute an ambitious slate of reforms, including improving teacher quality, expanding charter schools and making information about schools more accessible to parents.
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2 from R.I. make mark on ‘Idol’
01:31 PM EST on Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Bryan Rourke
Journal Staff Writer
The ninth season of “American Idol” has begun big for two Rhode Islanders. Tuesday night’s premiere featured competitors from last summer’s Boston audition, 31 of whom are advancing to the next round, in Hollywood.
Among them are Ellery Bonham of East Greenwich and Amadeo DiRocco of Johnston. They represent the two extremes of age eligibility for the show. Bonham, a junior at East Greenwich High School, auditioned two weeks beyond the minimum age of 16. DiRocco is 28, the show’s maximum age.
Tuesday’s program showed DiRocco’s audition in which he sang a soulful version of Muddy Waters’ “Hoochie Coochie Man.” And DiRocco’s performance went over very well. All four judges gave DiRocco their approval. Victoria Beckham said he had “a huge voice … a lot of passion … a really, really great energy.” And the head judge and host of the show, Simon Cowell, said DiRocco was “my favorite audition of the day.”
Bonham left for California on Sunday, according to Fred Scheff of East Greenwich, Bonham’s voice coach for the last 2½ years.
“Her strength is a God-given voice that is quite wonderful,” he said. “What is amazing is her emotional connection to the music and the audience. What has always astounded me is she is so much more mature than her years in musicianship and musicality.”
Scheff can’t recall what song Bonham sang for her Boston audition.
“I do know what she will probably sing in California. I think she’s going to sing ‘Cry Me a River’ and ‘For Once in My Life,’ if they let her sing a second song.”
Tuesday’s program showed a clip of DiRocco, a 1999 graduate of Cranston High School East, sharing a pasta dinner with his extended family. In the segment, DiRocco said he was a bartender.
“I consider myself very good at it,” Amadeo DiRocco said in the clip. “I hope I don’t have to do it anymore.”
DiRocco is not doing that anymore, according to his mother, Angela DiRocco of Johnston. DiRocco auditioned at the urging of his wife.
“I think it’s a good opportunity,” Amadeo DiRocco said in the video. “I think it’s my foot in the door. This is the day my life is going to change forever.”
“We think he did phenomenal,” Angela DiRocco said. “We are so proud of him. His voice has such range. People who heard him on TV don’t know what he’s capable of. He is tremendous, and a really nice guy. And I’m not just saying that because I’m his mother.”
The competition continues for DiRocco and Bonham, who join about 200 of the best contestants drawn from seven audition sites: Boston, Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Orlando. The field will be winnowed to a dozen semifinalists who will perform on a weekly basis before a studio audience and a national TV audience, who determines who advances. Eventually, two performers will vie for the title, and a recording contract.
Past winners include Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks. The most successful local competitor to date has been Ayla Brown of Wrentham, Mass., who, in 2005 at age 17, made it to the final cut before the top 12.
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Teachers, R.I. education chief still at loggerheads over reform
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, January 14, 2010
By Jennifer D. Jordan
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Responding to complaints from teachers’ unions, Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist and her staff are making changes to the state’s application for millions of dollars in federal money awarded to states that embrace education reform.
Gist said Wednesday she is willing to compromise, but is unwilling to water down changes she considers crucial to boosting student achievement.
“We are working around the clock to make the changes,” Gist said. “We are adjusting language.”
Unions were given until Wednesday to decide if they would sign on to the state’s effort to get as much as $100 million under the competitive Race to the Top program. That deadline has been extended, Gist said. Now, education officials will fine-tune the document over the next several days and she will hand-deliver it to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19.
Robert A. Walsh Jr., executive director of National Education Association of Rhode Island, said he is unsure the two sides can reach an agreement.
“We spent five hours with her today and several issues were discussed, but some of the major issues remain unresolved,” Walsh said Wednesday. “I don’t know. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I got the impression there was some rigidity on the other side that might not be resolvable.”
Walsh declined to specify what aspects of the application troubled union leaders.
The dense document touches upon many areas of reform that the unions oppose, such as expanding publicly financed charter schools, inviting in alternative teacher-training programs and requiring all educators to be evaluated yearly –– based, in large measure, on student performance.
“I am unwavering in my commitment to ensuring the plans we move forward with — whether we get Race to the Top money or not — result in better achievement for our children,” Gist said. “But I am more than willing to work to come together and find a way of doing that in a way everyone can support.”
The public had the chance to read the 120-page plan for the first time on Monday and Tuesday. While some response has been positive, teachers’ unions and some other groups have objected to parts of the application, Gist acknowledged.
Widespread public support — including from the unions — is crucial to Rhode Island’s ability to win the federal funds. Gist hopes to secure at least $100 million to make dramatic improvements in Rhode Island schools.
Among the changes that Gist’s staff has already made to the application is removing a section stating that if a student is taught by a teacher deemed to be “ineffective” two years in a row, a letter would be sent home to the parents.
That provision also worried school superintendents, who questioned how that situation would be handled, said John L. Pini, executive director of the Rhode Island School Superintendents’ Association.
“A child shouldn’t have a bad teacher one year, let alone two years in a row,” Pini said. “But we were puzzled about how that would be implemented.”
Another section that promised the state would move to merit pay for teachers was broadened to say the state will consider multiple methods to reward excellent teachers, including school-wide bonuses that would benefit the entire school community. Gist said she is still holding out hope the unions will come on board. Across the nation, some teachers’ unions are supporting state applications, while others are encouraging locals not to sign on. The Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals and NEARI have not yet decided what they will do.
“My greatest hope would be we can come together as a state — every single one of us, parents, students, teachers and local and state leaders — to support an ambitious agenda that stops at nothing short of excellence for every child,” Gist said.
Education officials asked school districts to let the state Department of Education know by Jan. 8 if they intend to participate in the reforms. More than 30 of the state’s 50 districts, charter schools and state-run schools signed memoranda to that effect, said Elliot Krieger, department spokesman.
Chariho Regional District declined to sign on, said Supt. Barry Ricci.
“I think the School Committee was concerned about increasing oversight from the state Department of Education,” Ricci said. Some committee members also balked at some of the reforms promoted by the federal guidelines, particularly the emphasis on charter schools, he said.
Chariho spent $875,000 last year to send more than 70 students to charter schools, Ricci said.
“In the research, charter schools are no better than regular public schools,” he said. “There are good and bad charters, just like there are good and bad regular schools. To say that charter schools are going to save the system is absurd.”