Regents Endorse Grant Application Subject to Final Revisions

Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist has invited the public to review the Rhode Island application for federal Race to the Top competitive funds and to offer feedback before the submission deadline.

Copies of the application will be available for review on Monday and Tuesday (January 11

This evening (January 7

"We think that we have a very good chance of being successful with this grant application, which could bring federal money to Rhode Island that we can devote to improving education," said Robert G. Flanders, Jr., Esq., Chairman of the Board of Regents. "We have reached out to all the districts and communities, and staff members have been working to put together the best application possible. I am pleased that the Regents have endorsed it."

"Race to the Top presents us with an enormous opportunity not only to secure needed resources to help us carry out reforms but also to push ourselves to act boldly and purposefully to enact the changes that our students need now," Commissioner Gist said. "If we receive the federal funds – and I am confident that we will! – Rhode Island will be well positioned to transform our schools and to move our action agenda from vision to reality."

The Race to the Top application includes many proposals on teacher effectiveness, the use of data in instruction, improving standards and tests, and turning around the lowest-performing schools in the state, including:

1. building a data system to track the performance of effective educators in their classrooms;
2. building a "gold standard" evaluation system, in partnership with unions and testing experts;
3. state-led, high-quality professional development for all school leaders;
4. an induction program to support new teachers regarding high-quality instruction, use of data, and classroom management;
5. increasing the pool of effective teachers and school leaders to work in persistently low-performing schools;