PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Rhode Island has a list of new priorities for students as classrooms prepare to open for the 2024-2025 academic year.
In an exclusive interview with NBC 10 News, Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green discussed a common theme for the upcoming school year: reducing chronic absenteeism and closing the learning gap.
“It is important to go to school. It is more important now than ever,” said Infante-Green.
Last school year, more than 28,600 students were absent on a permanent basis in Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Department of Education has spent much of the 2023-2024 school year educating parents about the importance of classroom attendance.
If a student misses two days of school per month, he or she is considered chronically absent. However, a national survey found that many families do not believe that missing two days of school per month would have a negative impact on their child.
State data shows that chronically absent students face a 20% drop in grades from their peers, meaning they are less likely to perform at grade level on tests.
“What do we do with students who have been chronically absent for two or three years? They’re going to fall behind,” Infante-Green said.
This will be the focus this year, says the Commissioner.
“What are we doing as a state to make sure we accelerate learning? It’s very difficult to catch up on two or three years in one year. So what else are we going to do? That’s what we’re going to focus on this year,” Infante-Green said.
Accelerated learning is not only the focus for chronically absent students, the state also wants to improve test scores in 2024.
“We will have to put a lot of work into reading and continue to focus on mathematics,” said the Education Commissioner.
Progress has been made over the past year.
Some districts achieved better math scores last year than before the pandemic, but learning decline remains a problem nationwide.
“It’s going to take a while,” Infante-Green said. “We’ll see incremental progress, ups and downs, but what we’re really interested in are the internal evaluations that give us a measure of how much progress is being made.”
While RICAS scores in maths and English have improved, schools must now maintain momentum without government COVID-related funding.
ESSER, the program that provided additional money to districts, was terminated.
Providence has already felt the effects of lost funding.
The district recently announced that it would end the 30-minute extended school day, despite noticeable progress a year after its implementation.
“Would we like it? Yes. It costs $25 million,” Infante-Green said.
Because Providence is already struggling with budget problems, it is impossible to ask for additional money to fund the program, Infante-Green said.
“We just don’t have the money to do something like this,” she said. “We’ve made it very clear that this is a one-year endeavor.”
Positions in schools that deal with social and emotional learning are also at risk due to the cut in federal funding.
Over the past four years, counties across the state have made massive investments in mental health positions.
“These positions were filled as temporary positions. No one should have expected that they would get these positions, but they were needed at the time,” Infante-Green said.
While the need for social-emotional learning remains high, districts must use their own budgets to maintain programs and positions this year.
Districts also had to invest in positions that meet the state’s new graduation requirements, which include adjustments to the math and science curriculum and a requirement to take two foreign language courses.
“We know that children’s cognitive abilities expand when they speak more than one language,” said Infante-Green.
Until now, it was not necessary to take language courses for admission to the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.
Students must also write a resume and submit a free application for state student funding.
When asked if this pressures kids to go to college, Infante-Green replied, “We’re not pushing them one way or the other, but we want them to have choices.”
Infante-Green argues that students automatically miss out on many options if they do not complete the FASFA form.
“We don’t want that for our children, we want to expand,” she said.
Another national focus in the coming school year will be school enrollment numbers.
If declining enrollment numbers continue into the fall, 360 High School in Providence may not be the last school to close its doors and consolidate.
“Decisions are being made about enrollment, but also about what is best for the children,” Infante-Green said.
Enrollment has declined nationwide, forcing school consolidation. “By the end of October, we’ll have a better handle on this,” Infante-Green said.
