Mayor's Education Opportunity Working Group Convenes for First Meeting

Cross-sector working group to focus on community engagement, goal-setting for Providence Schools.

Mayor Angel Taveras yesterday convened a group of cross-sector education advocates and practioners to provide a focused 60-day effort to evaluate, articulate and galvanize support around the Mayor's vision for public education in Providence. The Mayor's Education Opportunity Working Group (EOWG) was created earlier this spring as a subcommittee of the Mayor's Children and Youth Cabinet.

Drawing from national models for focused community engagement in public education initiatives, the nine-member group will focus on activities that articulate the Mayor's vision and priorities, ground those ideas in specific actions and clear goals, galvanize stakeholder support, and identify specific areas where the administration should strategically focus its energy and resources to improve educational outcomes for Providence students. This work will refine and build upon the work of the Taveras Transition Education Committee and Urban Education Task Force, other recent community engagement tables for education reform.

"Ideas hold the most value for our kids when they are fully implemented. We will realize our shared goal for transforming public education in Providence only when all of the stakeholders who develop and deliver educational services are working in coordination. We have made progress in the last few years, but we have a long way to go. I thank the members of this working group for their willingness to serve the community and support our efforts to make Providence's public schools the best performing in the nation," said Mayor Angel Taveras.

The group will also provide a conduit for organizing ideas that can inform the Providence School Board's search for the next Superintendent of Providence Public Schools.

Effective immediately, the group will embark on the following activities:

1) Conduct a general analysis relative to the Mayor's education policy and practice priorities:

a. Synthesize existing research and reports e.g. Urban Education Task Force, PDK Audit, Transition Education Committee report, PPSD strategic focus report, as well as national and international context

b. Interview PPSD officials, Children and Youth Cabinet members, and other major education stakeholders in the City

c. Make determinations about education capacity in Providence, naming gaps and assets to achieve goals

d. Determine the biggest levers at the City level for impact on education outcomes/goals

2) Determine strategies, outcomes, indicators and data (baselines and targets) toward cross-sector implementation of Mayoral goals.

3) Inform the Superintendent Search Committee about the education community's values, goals, and expectations of a successful candidate for new PPSD Superintendent.

4) Build upon and drive the work of the Children and Youth Cabinet, which Mayor Taveras is officially convening

The Mayor's goals for improving education in Providence include the following:

• Supporting the work of educators who are responsible for improving student achievement to ensure that Providence's test scores are no longer the lowest in the State;
• Providing a portfolio of high quality education options in Providence;
• Ensuring that every child is able to read at grade level by the third grade;
• Providing more opportunities for quality after school and summer programming;
• Significantly increasing high school graduation rates/reducing dropout rates;
• Increasing the number of students who go on to earn postsecondary degrees; and
• Supporting greater parent and community engagement in each of our City's schools.

The EOWG will be instrumental in setting measurable goals against which the Mayor can measure progress. Additionally, members will be tasked with ensuring that current and new initiatives are coordinated and fully leveraged to produce the best outcomes.

The EOWG is chaired by Angela Romans, the Mayor's Senior Education Advisor. Members of the group are:

• Warren Simmons, Annenberg Institute
• Kenneth Wong, Education Department at Brown
• Nicole Mathis-Thomas, principal at Nathanael Greene Middle School
• Elizabeth Melendez, Spanish teacher E-Cubed Academy high school
• Lee Keizler, PPSD Parent Advisory Council
• Dawn Clifton, PPSD Parent Advisory Council
• Bill Bryan, Gilbane, Inc.
• Keith Oliveira, Providence School Board

The EOWG will deliver to the Mayor and the Children and Youth Cabinet a report on its recommendations in September.