Achievement First - Letter Of Opposition
The Honorable Lincoln D. Chafee
Office of the Governor
222 State House Providence, RI, 02903
November 28, 2011
Dear Governor Chafee,
We, the undersigned group of concerned citizens from Providence, refute the notion indicated in your letter dated August 31, 2011 to Board of Regents Chairman George Caruolo that Providence “has demonstrated broad support” for a mayoral academy. Our group represents a broad spectrum of Providence community groups, public officials and individuals in firm opposition to this proposal. We strongly urge you to reject the proposal submitted to establish a network of Achievement First Mayoral Academies in our city. We believe that education policy for Providence, as for the entire State of Rhode Island, should be designed by a broad group of stakeholders, including educators, parents, teachers and students. We support real, democratic, accountable public education in Providence, and believe that Achievement First, with its out-of-state corporate funders, fails to represent these values. We are principally alarmed by the following issues:
Pedagogy – Achievement First follows a harshly disciplinarian “no excuses” model of education that attempts to raise academic achievement through severely punitive measures. We are opposed to Achievement First’s utilization of shunning and public stigmatization as pedagogical tools. We are worried by reports from the New York City Department of Education that Achievement First students are not being presented with opportunities to think critically or develop their voices.
Financial Cost – Achievement First will pull significant resources out of the Providence public school system. Even with the recent passage of the Fair Funding Formula, the loss of resources will have a direct negative effect on the services and programming for the 22,000+ students enrolled in Providence Public Schools. Providence schools have been underfunded for decades and cannot afford a further drain of needed resources.
Failure to Serve the Whole Student Population – Achievement First has a documented record of failing to serve students with the most needs. Compared with their host districts, many Achievement First schools have significantly lower rates of ELL students, students with IEPs, and students living in poverty (measured by free/reduced lunch). We are opposed to any charter school that disproportionately leaves behind the hardest-to-serve students.
Loss of Public Accountability – The current Achievement First proposal would create a publicly- funded, privately-operated school district managed by an out-of-state company. We are gravely concerned by the loss of public accountability that such an action might entail. Achievement First is a Charter Management Organization (CMO), an entity formed to start and manage new charter schools. Rhode Island has no regulations governing the approval or evaluation of such organizations. Currently, only the Board of Regents has the power to authorize new schools and reauthorize existing charter schools. We ask that the unique governance of CMOs be carefully reviewed and the public have an opportunity to review guidelines governing their growth and their accountability.
We are aware that you visited the flagship Achievement First school in Connecticut, as have several members of our group. We would ask that you also go to Brooklyn, New York, where Achievement First expanded to in 2005, and meet with parents of students who attended Achievement First schools there to hear their stories of disillusionment and disappointment with the policies and educational practices at those schools. There is no “quick and easy” fix to the challenges facing urban public schools. We share your sense of urgency on behalf of our state’s children, but we do not want to sacrifice their voices, their creativity or the opportunity their parents have to participate in a process that has not been fully vetted.
Our repudiation of Achievement First is not an affirmation of the status quo nor is it a condemnation of all charter schools. The persistent achievement gaps that exist in our schools must be addressed, but no organization or methodology should claim to close those gaps while posting mixed academic results and undermining democratic processes. We implore your help in creating education policies, developed in conjunction with parents, teachers, students, and other local stakeholders, that help all young people enrolled in our public schools. For the reasons stated herein, we respectfully request that the proposal for the Achievement First Mayoral Academy in Providence be rejected. A representative from our group will reach out to your office to schedule a time that we may discuss this issue further. Thank you for your consideration on this important matter.
Sincerely,
see signatories on the right
cc: Commissioner Deborah Gist Rhode Island Board of Regents Mayors Angel Taveras, Allan Fung, Scott Avedisian, Charles Lombardi Providence, Cranston, Warwick City Council North Providence Town Council Providence School Board Cranston, Warwick, North Providence School Committee
