Blistering new report says Providence Schools among worst in U.S.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Parents and administrators were in tears Tuesday over a scathing new report on Providence Public Schools.

The Johns Hopkins University researcher who led this review says in her decades of experience, she’s never seen dysfunction like this.

“Our team works in a lot of school districts,” said Dr. Ashley Berner of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, “and we were not prepared for what we saw.”

The report found Providence Public Schools have among the lowest academic results of any urban school district in the U.S. More than 93 percent of 8th graders can’t do grade level math, for example.

Weeks of classroom visits and interviews with teachers, parents, and students revealed a broken school culture, with ineffective bureaucracy, unsupported teachers, and demoralized parents.

Safety is also a major concern. The report highlighted not only deteriorating school buildings, but violent incidents like a student choking a teacher, arranged fights promoted on social media, and kindergarteners punching each other in the face.

But the state’s new education commissioner was disturbed that adults seemed concerned about who would get blamed.

“How dare we?” said Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angelica Infante–Green. “You know what leadership is to me? Own it. We can’t change it unless we own it.”

The commissioner says she’s not here to point fingers.

“We could point the finger at everyone here,” Infante-Green said. “But we have to move beyond that, and what are we going to do?”

She says the first step is engaging the community, including elected leaders.

“Everyone should be outraged,” said Providence City Council President Sabina Matos. “We should – we have to do better than this.”

One parent is encouraging her fellow parents to get involved.

“I think everybody should cry and feel upset and be disgusted,” said parent Ramona Santos Torres. “If we are not, there is a problem.”

Providence Public Schools will be holding eight forums for parents to discuss the report, beginning at 6 PM Wednesday night at D’Abate Elementary.

 The full report can be seen below: 

©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019