ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIPS FOR SUCCESS PROJECT
“I have always said that Rhode Island’s institutions of higher education must play a critical role in the state’s efforts to improve our public schools. With the data we have collected in this report, we are highlighting existing, successful partnerships between higher education and our public schools which can be shared and duplicated. This will be a great resource for academic leaders, superintendents, teachers, colleges and public schools. By continuing to work collaboratively, we can find ways to better prepare students for the challenges of the workplace.”
- GOVERNOR DONALD L. CARCIERIIn January of 2007, Governor Donald L. Carcieri’s State of the State address highlighted the need for improvement in public education. The governor requested the assistance of the state’s eleven higher education institutions in this endeavor.
A number of collaborations already exist between Rhode Island’s public PK-12 schools and colleges and universities in Rhode Island. Many college students volunteer in public schools as student teachers, or to fulfill a community service requirement. Some program shave grown out of the interest of a particular faculty member or department, and others have developed on the initiative of parents or students effort.
In April of 2007, the Governor’s PK-16 Council heard a presentation outlining some of the partnerships between colleges and public schools given by the president of Rhode Island School of Design, Dr. Roger Mandle, in his role as the chairman of Rhode Island Campus Compact and as a member of the Rhode Island Independent Higher Education Association. As a result of the presentation, a proposal was submitted to the Rhode Island Foundation and the Rhode Island Commodores to fund the systematic documentation of the collaborative relationships between higher education and PK-12 public school districts and to discover and develop partnership models that could be shared and replicated across the state.
The proposal established a working group to develop and oversee the work of the project,including a management team made up of Rhode Island Campus Compact, the Rhode Island Independent Higher Education Association, and the Rhode Island Office of Higher Education, as well as individual members from the Department of Labor and Training, the Governor’s Office, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Providence Plan, the Providence After School Alliance, and the Rhode Island College Crusade. This report describes the results of that effort.
