Governor Donald L. Carcieri today announced that Rhode Island was one of six states to be selected to participate in the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices’ Policy Academy on Creating New Models of Teacher Pay that Enhance Teacher Effectiveness. Rhode Island will receive $25,000 to develop a teacher compensation initiative that promotes growth and positively impacts student performance.
“Building a better profession for our educators in Rhode Island, and specifically in its urban districts, is the most important thing we can do to improve the level of education available to all students,” said Governor Donald L. Carcieri. “Participation in the NGA Academy will foster important learning and discussion on Rhode Island’s efforts to improve educator effectiveness statewide and serve as a complement to the foundation we have already set.”
The Policy Academy activities will begin in May 2009, and continue through September 2010. As part of this initiative, Rhode Island will participate in two Policy Academy meetings—scheduled for August 2009, and April 2010—and will have opportunities to consult with NGA Center staff and national experts from throughout the country. NGA Center staff will work with Rhode Island to develop a customized assistance plan to help the state achieve its goals and objectives to design a teacher pay initiative and an action plan for its implementation.
Rhode Island’s team to improve teacher effectiveness is led by the Governor’s Education Policy Advisor Janet Durfee-Hidalgo and includes Thomas Brady, Superintendent of the Providence Public School Department, Anna Cano-Morales, Senior Community Philanthropy Office for the RI Foundation and member of the RI Board of Regents, Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, the Commissioner for the RI Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Warren Simmons, Executive Director of the Annenburg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and Robert Walsh, Executive Director for the National Education Association Rhode Island.
“I extend my gratitude to each member of the leadership team for their commitment to improving the quality of our educational system,” continued Governor Carcieri. “Through collaboration and cooperation, Rhode Island has made great strides in developing components of a statewide performance management system for teachers. This grant allows us to further analyze our existing policies and develop new policies, share best practices with other states, and build consensus between state and local education agencies and labor organizations.”
In the letter of award, NGA Center for Best Practices Director John Thomasian noted “Rhode Island’s strong vision and plan for action” impressed the selection committee.
Rhode Island has many efforts underway to improve how the state supports, evaluates and compensates its teachers in the context of a comprehensive performance management system. One such initiative has been the work of the Board of Regents in 2007 to convert the Rhode Island Beginning Standards into the Rhode Island Professional Teaching Standards using national research and widely-recognized models of professional teaching practices. More recently, the Board approved the Educational Leadership Standards and will be finalizing a framework for performance evaluation this year. Additionally, the Governor’s Urban Education Task Force is in the process of refining its recommendations, including a strategy for implementing a data driven performance management system.
