Education Commissioner Gist to inspect NPHS diploma quality

NORTH PROVIDENCE - The new state commissioner of education will make her first official visit to the North Providence school system Wednesday, Nov. 18.

Deborah Gist and a team of about 16 staff of the Department of Education will spend the day at the high school reviewing the district's diploma granting system.

"This is a very serious review on that day," North Providence High School Principal Joseph Goho told the School Committee at its Oct. 28 meeting. "It is a formal review ... This is required by law to determine our district's adherence to the Regents' secondary ed regulations."

The first group of regulations pertaining to graduation was established in 2003. These rules applied to the high school curriculum and aimed to ensure that students all across Rhode Island were meeting the same standards prior to graduating. At that time, public high schools were required to have their students demonstrate proficiency in certain areas to close the gaps between typically high performing versus low performing schools.

In 2008, the Board of Regents made the requirements more intensive by extending them to the state's middle schools as well. Now schools must employ two of the following means of gauging student progress in order for the state to recognize their diplomas: semester exams, common assessments, portfolios, public exhibitions or capstone projects.

The commissioner's team will visit each school district this school year to ensure schools are on track to meet the deadline for implementing these new programs.

The deadline for the standards to be in place is 2012. Gist's visit is part of the process of instituting the new requirements. Her team will look at what North Providence is doing right now to conform to the regulations and begin to decide whether changes need to be made in order for the NPHS diploma to be approved in 2012.

"School has changed dramatically since many of us went to middle school and high school," Goho said. "And I can say that as an educator here for 12 years that these regulations have changed schools for the better. Without question, our grade 12 diploma represents something and means something as a result of these regulations. We are producing a better product."

While in North Providence, Gist's team will take a close look at the North Providence graduation standards and how they chose to implement them. In North Providence, the administration chose senior projects and portfolios to meet these regulations.

The senior project fulfills the requirement that all students be able to complete performance-based tasks. Because seniors at NPHS have been required to complete senior projects for a number of years, it was more prepared for the new standards than many of its surrounding school districts, educators have said.

"In many ways, we're ahead of the curve," Goho said.

While the Board of Regents requires students to have 20 credits before they graduate, North Providence students must have 22. This includes four years of English, four years of math or a math equivalent, three years of science, three years of social studies, technology or fine arts.

In addition to earning these credits, they must show mastery in certain grade span expectations, commonly referred to as GSEs. This is where the portfolios fit into the comprehensive diploma system.

Right now, North Providence High School uses portfolios that the students begin in their freshman year and add to throughout their high school careers along with senior projects to ascertain graduation proficiency and meet these requirements.

"We also include common assessments, which are required in math, science, social studies and fine arts," Goho said.

As for the middle schools, students at Birchwood Middle School also complete portfolios, which gets them in the habit of doing so before they enter the high school. Kim Granato, who was formerly the vice principal at Birchwood and has since taken the same post at Ricci Middle School, implemented this standard at Birchwood four years ago. At Ricci, the students complete Project Focus as a means of preparing them for the high school.

The last piece of the diploma system is the state assessment. Beginning with the class of 2012, all students must show partial proficiency at the very least on the annual NECAP tests in order to graduate. This requirement is similar to the tests used in states like Massachusetts and New York, which students there must pass in order to receive their diplomas.

"North Providence has been working toward implementation of these regulations for several years and in many ways we were ahead of the curve on key initiatives at all levels," Goho said. "The central office has provided the support and the School Committee has continued to provide appropriate and responsible resources to ensure implementation of the Regents' regulations. Last year we received preliminary approval from the commissioner which indicated that the district was on target for implementation and final approval. This represents a significant milestone in the approval process."