Statewide Analysis

VI. Conclusion:
A focus on the teacher/student relationship
will help focus disparate efforts and initiatives

In the land of RI's Independent Man, RI's 36 school districts have developed long traditions of local control and self-governance. Each district tailors its schools to the unique personality of its city or towns. The dawn of the Information Age and the rampant development of technologies has created national and even international demands that educators prepare students to become intellectually high-functioning problem-solvers and life-long learners. The state of RI has responded by setting certain state standards, to which all schools and districts are accountable, without dictating the strategies or methods by which any school or district will meet the challenge.

Since the 1997 passage of Budget Article 31's school reform initiatives, most RI schools and districts are very obviously buckling down to the serious work of improving student achievement. With few exceptions, school communities seem alert to the task, conscious of the state accountability agenda, realistic about the work involved and eager to help students achieve state standards. Even without the diversity engendered by local control, education is a many-faceted enterprise, and it would be a very wealthy district indeed – in so many respects – that could afford to focus on all the important aspects of education at once. Literacy, numeracy, supporting challenged students, improving a sense of a safe, caring culture – these are only a few examples of key strategies to help all children meet high expectations.

Thus, to maximize the efficacy of each of our efforts and to minimize the time we spend casting about for winning methods, we recommend that all educational decisions be evaluated in terms of what will strengthen the student/teacher relationship. The health of that relationship – both as the principal stage for teaching and learning and as a mutually warm, caring relationship – will do more towards boosting student achievement than any educational theory, material resource or new textbook. Theories, resources and textbooks must serve the teachers in their efforts to communicate clear expectations about meeting high standards using materials interesting to the children. Theories, resources and textbooks must empower students to build the knowledge they need that, in turn, allows their teachers to take them on longer, more involved educational journeys. Supportive organizational structures are critical to encouraging the mutual trust and caring between teachers and students so that useful new theories, resources and textbooks are always a help.

Evaluating all school decisions through this lens of the student/teacher relationship will guide our diverse communities, making unique decisions, towards the same goal of 100% proficiency for all students.

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