Nov 30, 2018, Providence, RI, Go Local: 85% of Providence Students Not Meeting Expectations on Latest Statewide Test—RI Leaders Speak Out http://www.golocalprov.com/news/85-of-providence-students-not-meeting-expectations-on-latest-statewide-test The Rhode Island Department of Education released the state's new RICAS student assessment scores for grades 3-8 on Thursday -- which showed that students statewide scored 17-20% lower than their Massachusetts counterparts -- and reaction was strong. "Rhode Islanders should be deeply concerned at the very alarming RICAS results. Especially, when you consider that if Rhode Island was a city in Massachusetts, the scores would place the Ocean State in the bottom 10% of the state," said Jim Vincent, President of the NAACP Providence Branch. "I strongly feel that scores 17% and 20% below our nearest neighbor mean that we are in an obvious crisis. To me, the results merely confirm what other studies (Annie B. Casey Foundation) already have shown -- we are not adequately educating our kids in Rhode Island." In Providence, over 85% of students were only partially meeting -- or not meeting -- expectations for both math and English on the 2017-2018 Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) based on the Massachusetts assessment (MCAS). "We need to take the blinders off and begin fixing the system, today," said Vincent. "We are in a crisis and I am screaming fire."… At the statewide level, reaction varied from those in the education -- and political -- worlds, from those who said a greater investment is needed, to those who said the very opposite. Tim Duffy, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, said that if Rhode Island wants Massachusetts' results, it needs to make Massachusetts' investments. … "These test results are not surprising. We have known for years that our schools are underperforming. What is shocking is just how poorly some of our districts are performing, like Providence. Providence 3rd-8th graders scored 14% proficient in English language arts and 10% proficient in math. What we are doing educationally is not working; the educational status quo is hobbling a generation of students," said former gubernatorial candidate Ken Block….
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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