RIDE: All five Pawtucket secondary schools identified as low-performing; Slater slated for redesign

At the Feb. 11 Pawtucket School Committee meeting, Drew Etchelson, deputy commissioner at the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), told the committee that Pawtucket is facing persistent secondary‑school challenges and that five of the district’s open‑enrollment secondary schools were identified as 1‑star and designated for comprehensive school improvement (CSI).

Etchelson said the RIDE accountability system combines multiple metrics — achievement and growth, English‑learner proficiency, school quality and student success measures, and college‑ and career‑readiness — and that those metrics placed all five secondary schools in the bottom 5 percent of the state. “PSD has experienced a persistent long standing secondary school challenge,” Etchelson said, and “at the release of the accountability data in December, all 5 of PSD’s open enrollment secondary schools were identified as both a 1 star school and a…