Education & Opportunity
After letting down our students for decades, the State took a big step forward by taking over the Providence school system. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit soon thereafter and the takeover effort never really took off. Now more than ever, our students need access to accelerated, accessible and equitable delivery of educational support in the classroom and out. As Mayor, Brett will be the fiercest advocate and champion for our students, our families and our community. He will hold the State accountable and direct City resources where our students and families need it most.
As the child of a preschool teacher, Brett knows the value of supporting students and families early. Brett is proud to have helped the State dramatically expand Pre-K while he served as Governor Raimondo’s Chief of Staff. He will build on Rhode Island’s successful Pre-K program to provide universal access to high-quality early education options for all eligible students. He will also invest in early intervention models, increasing accessibility to affordable high-quality childcare and building the infrastructure to ensure these programs live on for generations to come. Access to these early supports improves outcomes for all students and, when equitably delivered, can improve overall economic mobility for all students later in life.
We have to support our students
when they need it most.
That is particularly important in transition grades and during middle school years when our students move to larger schools with less direct support. We know that these critical years are often when our students and our families disengage and immediate investments in these grades are needed in social-emotional supports, increased mentorship and more exploratory and skill-based learning opportunities.
By increasing innovation at the middle school level and transitional years we can improve academic performance and provide smoother transitional experiences for students across the district.
As our district continues to struggle to meet the needs of all students, Brett supports families’ decisions to choose schools that work for them. Many of our public charter schools have been created to serve as laboratories of educational innovation, and the debate over their structure has often obscured that vision and the opportunity it presents for students. Brett supports high quality charter schools that provide our families with better educational outcomes and options for kids. When charter schools fail to produce better outcomes over time, Brett supports reforming them, revisiting their charter and closing them when necessary. Our students deserve access to high-quality and equitable educational options in every classroom, in every school.
We will only improve these systems with a highly-skilled, diverse and increasingly multilingual workforce across the district. Brett knows that in order to prepare our students for the future, we must meet children where they are in the language they need and provide education experiences that increase economic mobility with multiple pathways to success. He will increase investments in adult education and workforce development for students, including those who have already graduated from Providence Public Schools and lack the skills they need after graduation, by increasing demand-driven training throughout the city.
In order to best support our students, particularly those who have already gone through our PK-12 system, we must provide them support before and after graduation. Building upon the success of the RI Promise program that Brett helped establish with Governor Raimondo, we will increase participation of Providence graduates while investing in alternative pathways that provide economic mobility for all students of all skill levels.