When Schools get Schooled: A Look at the Providence State Takeover.

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Providence Public School Districts have an exceptionally low level of academic instruction, despite neighboring an elite Ivy League institution. In the first episode of Season 3, hosts Morgan Awner ‘21 and Rachel Lim ‘21 take a step off College Hill and a look into the broken Providence schools. Featuring interviews from Domingo Morel Ph.D ‘14, a scholar on state takeovers, and Paige Clausius-Parks, a senior policy analyst at RI Kids Count, this episode illustrates the overwhelming issues with the schools in Providence, an explanation of state takeovers, and questions the direction of the intervention. Special Thanks: Domingo Morel is a Visiting Scholar at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. He is the author of Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy (2018) and co-editor of Latino Mayors: Power and Political Change in the Postindustrial City (2018). He received his Ph.D. in political science from Brown University in 2014 and is an alum of the Providence Public School District. Paige Clausius-Parks is a Senior Policy Analyst at RI Kids Count, an organization that provides comprehensive information on Rhode Island’s children and engages in information-based advocacy for the improvement of children’s lives. Clausius-Parks is a certified secondary grades social studies teacher and worked at the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center. She has a Masters in Education Administration from the Harvard University School of Graduation. Special Thanks to Dan McGowan at the Boston Globe, for his continuous support of student journalism. If this episode dismays/ shocks/ intrigues you, please consider donating to the Providence Student Union, who do the critical work of empowering students in PVD to create change in their schools and communities. Hosts: Morgan Awner and Rachel Lim Interviews and Scripting: Annika Sigfstead and Morgan Awner Executive Producer: Emily Skahill