It's standard to roll out the proverbial red carpet for the guest of honor. But when U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) in Warwick on Wednesday, he didn't have much time for pomp. The university learned of Cardona's visit just five days ago.
Despite the somewhat short notice, Cardona was welcomed to CCRI's Knight Campus by a cast from the state's upper echelons in education and government circles. After a tour of the university's manufacturing workshops, Cardona made his remarks in a roundtable chat.
“The extent to which we can help our state grow and our nation grow depends on how well we blur the lines between government agencies. K-12 and higher education: Sadly, in this country There is a disparity between them and we are losing a lot of talented students,” Cardona said. “It's our responsibility to fill those gaps. It looks like you're doing some work here in Rhode Island. It really has the potential to be lifted nationally.”
The event is part of President Biden's “Invest in America'' tour, which began on February 15th as the fourth leg of its national tour, with presidential officials discussing “Bidennomics and how the president's investment policy toward the United States is shaping up.'' “Growing the economy from the middle, and emphasizing how we're growing the economy from the bottom up,'' according to the White House. news release.
Mr. Cardona's visit in particular emphasized this point. CCRI success Providing Career and Technical Education (CTE)as well as those focused on adult learners. RI reconnectWhich We have opened a new information center. The focus on celebrating CTE is not unwarranted. The graduation rate for CTE students is 92%. It was the best in the state In 2023.
The value of the CTE program is clear to Cardona. “I'm an auto shop grad and graduated from a high school auto technician program. I went to school to be a teacher. I didn't miss a beat. I had options when I graduated.” he said at a press conference after the roundtable.
Governor Dan McKee and Rhode Island state legislators Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo were in attendance, as well as other leaders of Rhode Island's education system. Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) Secretary Angelica Infante-Green and Postsecondary Education Commissioner Shannon Gilkey sat across from each other at the roundtable, but in Cardona's assessment, the differences between their agencies There were no grooves.
“The kind of intentional collaboration we're seeing here in Rhode Island, I would hold it up and walk away saying, 'More states need to do this,'” Cardona said. “It's part of the leadership structure here to make sure the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. That doesn't happen everywhere in the country.”
That hand may not be held as tightly as Cardona suggested. At a Feb. 7 Rhode Island Senate Education Committee hearing, Sen. Lou DiPalma said the committee reviews the CCRI's report on new students each year. And each year, DiPalma is interested in students who are marked as needing one or more remedial courses even after they graduate from high school.
The kind of intentional cooperation that we're seeing here in Rhode Island, I would just hold it up and walk away saying, “More states need to do this.''
– U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona
Mr. DiPalma said that, per se, was not Mr. Gilkey's fault. Still, the Middletown senator wondered if Gilkey's office was fully cooperating with RIDE. “When was the last time you had a conversation with Commissioner Infante Green? Or when was the last time the board had a conversation with a K-12 board?” DiPalma asked.
Gilkey parried. “Part of that preparedness gap is in a joint strategic plan between RIDE and the K-12 Council called PrepareRI,” he responded. “There are some goals out there that, frankly, I don't think we're meeting the goal of closing the gap in remedial education. That's certainly been discussed in the council on the post-secondary level… But when it comes to joint projects with the K-12 committee and, of course, RIDE, we are not there yet.”
The Prepare RI website does not upload annual reports to the website From 2021. However, during the roundtable discussion, Gilkey reiterated its importance. “Together with my colleague Commissioner Infante Green, we are working on a strategic plan to align at the policy level what is happening in K-12, the most secondary, the workforce, and most recently structurally. I have a.'' Now, it's business. ”
When it was Infante-Green's turn to speak, she ended with a plea. “One of the things I would be remiss if I didn't ask you publicly is funding that we can actually direct,” Infante-Green said. She is grateful for Cardona's team and the progress they have made in educating Rhode Island's Latino community.
“But you have to ask,” Infante-Green said.
“We have to do more. Yeah, no, that's true,” Cardona said. “If our country is going to grow, we have to make sure everyone grows.”
It was not clear at the press gathering exactly what the “further efforts” meant. Cardona did not provide specific figures on potential funding, but reiterated his boss's commitment to education, saying, “In the Biden-Harris administration, we recognize that education is an investment in the growth of our country.” Stated.
Sadly, Cardona couldn't get all patriotic all day. Before the press conference, which lasted about five minutes instead of the scheduled 10, Cardona joked to the roundtable audience that he really had to go. Just know that the plane is warming up or something. ”
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