The Education Legacy of the Chafee Era

To read Dan McGowan’s WPRI profile of the education record of RI Governor Lincoln Chafee (D), a reader is likely to think it reasonable for Chafee to claim “this is one where I had full success”:

… as he enters the final months of his one and only term as governor of Rhode Island, Chafee says he has put a halt to the “divisive labor warfare” he inherited thanks to compromises on both sides. And while a large achievement gap between poor and affluent students still exists, Chafee argues the investments he’s made in education have put the state on a path toward producing better outcomes.

The only alternate views presented in the article are from Rhode Island Association of School Communities Executive Director Tim Duffy, who references accountability in praise of the Obama Administration, and Gary Sasse, who says (in McGowan’s words) Chafee “still has done little to increase achievement,” and hasn’t increased funding enough.  Sasse does “commend” Chafee for increasing spending as much as he has, though.

So the positives are that Chafee appeased the teachers’ unions enough to back them off the threat of using Rhode Island’s children as leverage in political fights, while devoting more money to education and reducing accountability.  But these aren’t the metrics by which the success of an education system should be judged.  After all, if the legacy of the Chafee era is that Rhode Island is paying more money for worse results, then the “more money” part doesn’t reduce the negative, it amplifies it.

At least judging by the state’s results on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests, which are taken every two years, that’s exactly what’s happening.

The following chart shows math and reading NAEP scores for 4th and 8th grades from 2003 to 2013, with results for all students and for those who are eligible for free or reduced lunch (FRL), a common threshold to define “low income” students.  Lines of the same color are for the same test, with the dashed lines being the FRL-eligible students.

The most important observation is that progress stopped, and in most cases reversed, after 2011.  The trends, however, are telling, when viewed in light of what was happening with the state’s public school system during those years.

The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) tests were initiated in the 2005-2006 school year, with the promise that they would eventually be used as a graduation requirement.  Governor Don Carcieri began staffing the state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education with strong reform voices in the 2007-2008 time frame, and they hired reform Education Commissioner Deborah Gist in 2009.

During those years, and through to 2011, pretty much all of test trends were positive, and the gap between low-income students and the student body overall was shrinking.  The improvement was not rapid enough, but it was happening.

In 2011, Chafee knocked the reformers off of the board.  He’s kept Gist in her office, but as he tells McGowan, “she’s been flexible.”

With the next release of NAEP results, Rhode Island’s achievement tanked, with low-income students being especially affected.

This isn’t a national trend, either.  Looking at Rhode Island’s rank among states paints a worse picture, not a better one.  Our average rank on the four tests improved from 37th in 2005 to 26th in 2011, but dropped to 29th in 2013.  Among low income students the 2005-2011 improvement was from 45th to 33rd, with 2013 finding disadvantaged Rhode Island students slipping 38th place.

Many things in a state contribute to its overall education results.  Rhode Island’s continuing economic woes, for example, can’t be a positive for education. (Of course, scores continued going up until 2011, after the supposed worst of the recession had passed.)  Additionally, the NAEP is only one marker.  Others, like NECAP, graduation rates, and college placement might make the picture murkier.  It is, however, an excellent way to compare trends across states.

While no measure is perfect or unarguable, an assessment of the recent history of education in Rhode Island must take the NAEP results into account and explain how spending even more money — not to mention glowing articles about the outgoing governor — is justified despite them.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in The Ocean State Current, including text, graphics, images, and information are solely those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the views and opinions of The Current, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, or its members or staff. The Current cannot be held responsible for information posted or provided by third-party sources. Readers are encouraged to fact check any information on this web site with other sources.

YOUR CART
  • No products in the cart.
0