LEA Reviews

Pursuant to R.I. Gen. Law § 16-7.1-5.1, in spring 2024, the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education (Council) promulgated statewide, legally-required regulations that provide the criteria and a procedure for evaluating the turnaround status for LEAs subject to intervention and support pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-7.1-5. These regulations were developed after an extended public comment period, and with input from national education. In summer 2024, RIDE subsequently applied these regulations to launch a review of the intervention and turnaround status of the Providence Public School District (PPSD). 

The regulations and review process focuses on evaluating two key questions: 

  1. Progress: The degree an LEA has made sufficient progress towards achieving the academic and other progress measures identified within the LEA’s Turnaround Plan; and, 
  2. Capacity: If the LEA, school committee, and responsible municipal entity possess the capacity and readiness to sustain the LEA’s progress if the LEA is returned to local control. 

More information about the statewide regulations, and the PPSD-specific review, may be found below: 

In 2022, the Rhode Island General Assembly mandated that the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education (Council) create regulations pursuant to R.I. Gen. Law § 16-7.1-5.1. These regulations provide the criteria and a procedure for determining the end of turnaround status for LEAs subject to intervention and support pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-7.1-5, and to return control over the operation of such LEAs from the Council back to the local school board or committee. The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) developed the proposed regulations (200-RICR-20-05-6) pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-7.1-5.1 with input from public education stakeholders and experts and by examining education policy best practices.   

At the Council’s October 24, 2023, meeting, the Council formally approved the proposed regulations for the purpose of public review. The public comment period lasted 45-days (longer than the required 30-day period) from November 3, 2023, to December 18, 2023. RIDE made public comment possible via formal public hearings, mail, and email at any point in time during the public comment process. In accordance with best practices six (6) public comment hearings were conducted across Rhode Island, with at least one in every county of the state. After reviewing public comments, the Council finally approved Regulations 200-RICR-20-05-6 on February 27, 2024.  

Please see the following documents pertaining to the regulations:  

In addition, to help ensure a clear standards-based approach for any review process, RIDE engaged Dr. Kenneth Wong, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair for Education Policy at Brown University to design “LEA Review Standards." These standards were developed and through a review of best practices from Massachusetts and other states, as well as RIDE’s own Basic Education Program (BEP), and were designed to be applicable to any LEA Review. 

In spring and summer 2024, consistent with these regulations, RIDE launched a review of the PPSD intervention to assess the intervention’s progress and local governance capacity.   

In alignment with national best practices, RIDE engaged two nationally recognized organizations to conduct independent, third-party evaluations to inform the PPSD Review: 1) The Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Center for Educational Policy Research (HGSE-CEPR); and, 2) SchoolWorks.  

HGSE-CEPR conducted a quantitative analysis that evaluated PPSD’s performance during and after the pandemic, compared to similar districts in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. SchoolWorks conducted an in-depth, standardized review of the PPSD intervention’s initial progress and current local governance capacity. 

RIDE formally released these reports on August 16, 2024. More information about these reports may be found here: 

These reports both highlight areas of progress throughout the intervention all stakeholders should be proud of, while also acknowledging areas that all entities can focus on in the future to help improve outcomes for Providence’s students. More information about the review and recommendation process may be found here:

If you have any questions about these regulations or the review process, please contact turnaroundreview@ride.ri.gov.