Mayor Angel Taveras Names Angela Romans Senior Adviser On Education

Respected education professional to lead efforts accelerating transformation of Providence Public Schools

PROVIDENCE -- Mayor Angel Taveras today announced his selection of Angela Romans to serve as his Senior Adviser on Education. Romans will hold a senior level position within the Mayor's administration to support and accelerate efforts to transform Providence Public Schools and improve educational opportunities City-wide. Romans will play an important role as a liaison between the Mayor's office, the many facets of the Providence Public School system, and the stakeholders involved in education across the city and state.

Romans' presence at City Hall will create a vital link between policy and practice and bring deep expertise to Providence's ongoing effort to strengthen its public schools. Romans will track policy at the local, state and federal level, support on the ground implementation of school improvement initiatives, create a conduit for communication between the community and the Mayor's office, and work with the school department and children- and youth-service providers on programs that will accelerate improvement to student performance and attainment levels.

"Angela brings to my administration and the City of Providence deep expertise in both policy and practice and invaluable real world experience working with students and communities who face many of the same challenges we face in Providence. She will be a positive force for change in our City and I know she will have a tremendous impact on our work to offer every child in Providence a world class education," said Taveras.

Romans most recently served as the New England and Southern Network Manager for Diploma Plus, a nationally recognized nonprofit education model for dropout prevention and student re-engagement. Diploma Plus starts and supports small public high schools and programs across the country that serve students who have not found success in traditional high schools. At Diploma Plus, Romans directed new school startup and development; coached school leaders and district officials on progressive school reform efforts; advocated for schools at the local, state, and national level; and brokered relationships between schools and higher education institutions and business and other community partners.

"I am honored to serve the Mayor, the City of Providence and all of our students and teachers. There is nothing more important than strengthening our schools and creating opportunities for all our young people to succeed. I know that many across the city feel an urgent need for strategic action and sustained reform to address the dramatic achievement disparities among our youth. I look forward to building upon the work of the many passionate, committed groups of stakeholders who want to make Providence public schools the best in the nation. Our children and youth deserve no less," said Romans.

Romans has focused much of her career on increasing access to post-secondary opportunities for low-income, urban, and underrepresented youth and easing the high school to college transition for students who have been placed at-risk. Angela worked at Brown University in the Office of Admission for 11 years, in multiple capacities as Associate Director of Admission, Director of Minority Recruitment, academic adviser to first-years and sophomores, and ALANA mentor to first-year students of color.

At Brown, Angela worked closely with community-based organizations serving first-generation college students and devised recruitment strategies that yielded the two largest classes of minority students in the university's history at that time. Prior to her work at Brown University, she taught high school math and science in small, alternative public schools in Boston and New York City.

Taveras makes this announcement one day after the Rhode Island Department of Education announced the most recent NECAP scores.

"Providence saw some improvements in this year's NECAP testing, especially at the elementary school level. I commend the teachers and students for their hard work and the improvements they have made. However, the tests reaffirm that there is still much work to be done to offer every student in Providence the education they deserve," said Taveras. "All schools must be held to high performance standards and if a school is struggling, we must do all we can to make positive interventions that support students, teachers and parents. While I am encouraged by the results at some schools, we cannot pretend that our city schools are the best they can be. They are not."

As an instrumental partner in Taveras' education team, Romans will begin her work with the administration on February 25, 2010.

Romans serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of College Visions, a local college access nonprofit; is an active member of the Board of the Women's Fund Rhode Island; and interviews applicants for her alma mater through the Harvard Club of Rhode Island.

Romans earned her Master's Degree in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering at Harvard College.

She is a resident of Providence.