GoLocalProv | News | Former US Education Official Rips Commissioner Gist & RI’s Reform Efforts

GoLocalProv | News | Former US Education Official Rips Commissioner Gist & RI’s Reform Efforts:

Former US Education Official Rips Commissioner Gist & RI’s Reform Efforts

     

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Dan McGowan, GoLocalProv News Editor

A former assistant U.S. Secretary of Education is taking Education Commissioner Deborah Gist to task for implementing reform efforts that focus too heavily on test scores and teacher evaluation and not enough on the burdens imposed by poverty.

In a wide-ranging interview with GoLocalProv, Dr. Diane Ravitch, who has become one of the loudest critics of charter schools and the Race to the Top program in the country, said too many educators are currently emphasizing high-stakes test scores and supporting charter schools while failing to address the problems public school teachers face every day.

Ravitch’s comments came days after she posted an item on her blog titled, “Is Rhode Island the Worst State?” in response to local teachers who have written to her about the state “rapidly deteriorating in its commitment to public education.”

In the short post, Ravitch discussed Rhode Island’s Race to the Top efforts, the attempt to woo the Achievement