State educators launching new five-year strategic plan

DEBORAH A. Gist, Rhode Island's commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, said involving the public directly in as many ways as possible will make for a better strategic plan. The process for the next five-yer plan has begun.  / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
DEBORAH A. Gist, Rhode Island's commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, said involving the public directly in as many ways as possible will make for a better strategic plan. The process for the next five-yer plan has begun. / PBN FILE PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

PROVIDENCE – State educators are launching development of the next five-year statewide strategic plan by broadly soliciting public input in a survey and recruiting a “design team” that will write the plan.
The last strategic plan, which covered 2010 through 2015, solicited public input through community meetings and forums, but the formal statewide survey and 12-15-member “Ambassador Design Team” are new additions, said Elliot Krieger, spokesman for the R.I. Department of Education.
Developing the plan will create a statewide vision for public education in Rhode Island through the year 2020, according to a press release issued Friday. The plan covers elementary and secondary education from pre-kindergarten through Grade 12. The Board of Education, the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, and RIDE are seeking the public’s input.
Eva-Marie Mancuso, chairperson of the Board of Education, and Deborah A. Gist, commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, said involving the public directly in as many ways as possible will make for a better plan.
“Just as the educational environment has changed over the past five years, the planning process must also change,” Gist said. “Our new plan will be for, from, and about all Rhode Islanders, and we will build this plan through a community discussion.”
The design team will develop and write the plan over the next seven months. David Moscarelli, the 2015 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year, will facilitate the team’s work, which starts in December. A final plan is due to the Board of Education for approval in June.
RIDE will post updated results from its five-minute, anonymous survey at least weekly on the Strategic Plan pages of the RIDE website. The survey will run through December. After that, RIDE will schedule community discussions, small-group discussions, and individual interviews to provide further information to shape the strategic plan.
The council, board and RIDE are committed to “transparency, public engagement and respect for all opinions,” added Patrick A. Guida, chairman of the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education. “Our goal is to have a plan that guides our work, inspires us toward greatness, brings out the best in all of our students and includes all Rhode Islanders in its vision.”

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