This is part one of a two-part editorial. If you missed it, read part one.

There no longer would be any computer modules, instead teachers would have to manage all tests and grading by hand.

Second, the model itself was wildly inappropriate for middle schoolers. I will explain using the same exemplars as before, Carlos and Amy. Recall before that both students were reading the same text. The testing was individualized and discrete in terms of scaffolding, warding off potential for stigma. And in spite of scaffolding, the students were fundamentally oblivious to the modifications, which is the ideal standard to aspire to as an educator, creating scaffolding that is invisible to the students.

ARC got rid of all that.

First, students were tested to determine their reading level, which was color-coded. This is called the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA).

Color-coding students in front of their peers based upon their reading level is the classic definition of stigmatizing. I had students completely shut down by December after they had been teased enough times by peers for reading at a Red or White IRLA level.

Second, grade-level equivalence is not synonymous with age-appropriate. Carlos and Amy used to read the same material because StudySync’s computer module came with audio narration that was projected by the Teacher onto the SmartBoard. But now, they were given individualized books on their color-band level. Amy is reading at an eighth grade level and so could choose books like Harry Potter. By contrast, Carlos is a Red-level student. With IRLA, the Teacher encourages the student to read about something that interests them. Carlos is interested in cars and this is a Red-level book from ARC:

So not only are we forcing the students to out themselves as borderline-illiterate, we decide to rub salt into the wound by making them read materials at home on a toddler’s bookshelf. The dirty looks I would get from Carlos for making him read this piffle were completely understandable.

But these are just the auxiliary Independent Reading textbooks. The Core Reading texts were absolutely disastrous. Alongside Independent Reading on their respective IRLA levels, students were also assigned a whole-class reading novel, titles which were selected by the most tone-deaf people who ever held a Teaching License in Providence.

The ARC curriculum, put simply, was written for white suburban districts. The Core Reading novels were books about racial justice issues that were written by and for white, middle class, suburban students who are gradually seeing their Districts become more integrated thanks to the growth of a Black middle class. What exactly does a white Mormon author named Chris Crowe have to tell our BIPOC students about racism and systemic oppression? It is the most ludicrous setup for a fiasco, especially when you get the Latino students bullying the Black students with racial slurs that are being used in the Core text. (I speak from experience; the Black student was mercilessly bullied and the year ended with fisticuffs and an ambulance.)

Third, and most onerous for Faculty, was the return to analog technology. The District could have easily deployed ARC with computer testing methods to administer the Color Level test and similar Formative/Summative Assessments akin to StudySync. ARC was originally developed for deployment in elementary schools, where a teacher would have 30 students on their roster at most. Remember, I can have 150 students on five rosters during my school day. Individually testing each student is logistical insanity and so the District tried lightening the load by having Social Studies teachers share the burden. But even with a second teacher, the level testing was rushed to meet arbitrary deadlines handed down by the District so to generate a Potemkin Village image of improvement.

Fourth, these arbitrary deadlines and metrics for growth where the District imposed the expectation that every student advance two color levels over the course of one year.

Let’s go back to Amy and Carlos. What if Amy is developing ADHD and falls behind as a result? Pediatric mental illness is its own mass pandemic in the urban core and there are strict laws against a Faculty member making any statement that could be construed as diagnostic; in literal terms, I could be fired and/or sued if I tell a parent that I believe their child has a mental illness like ADHD. My hands are tied if Amy starts slipping behind. Puberty can be a component of neuro-cognitive developments for everything from ADHD to depression, ergo this should not be a matter of controversy. In the suburbs, there are plenty of interventions on campus to legally present these observations to the parent via a School Social Worker or other kind of Specialist. But in South Providence, we can barely get enough Faculty members, let alone Specialists. Therefore Amy is left to rot on the vine and, when she fails this growth benchmark, we can expect her to be disciplined accordingly at home.

And Carlos? Even if he has sucked up the embarrassment from reading books about Barney the Dinosaur, remember that gaining academic fluency requires five years of education. Trying to advance Carlos two grade levels in one year would be impossible for Einstein; an adolescent who is crash-landing into puberty and a new language would be lucky if they were able to merely say every word in their baby book correctly without any mispronunciation. For instance, one of the most common mistakes made by Spanish speakers is saying “eh-ss” when they see the letter “s,” meaning that I am commonly referred to as “Mister Ehss-tewart,” almost equivalent to saying “Ah-Choo” when you sneeze.

And what does this mean for Faculty? The District arbitrarily mandated that Faculty members use student IRLA growth as one of the Artifacts submitted for our Professional Evaluation. For new teachers, a bad evaluation score can shape your career prospects for a long time. One is frankly compelled to wonder if this was an intentional design component that would scare off the properly-licensed senior faculty so that the schools could be populated with much less-expensive Emergency Certified and Teach for America employees, teachers who in subtotal cost Payroll less than if these classrooms were staffed with sufficiently-qualified educators. Would the Superintendent and Commissioner be cynical enough to build that many Potemkin Villages in South Providence?

They were hand-picked by former Gov. Gina Raimondo, who never let the opportunity of a good disaster, fake or otherwise, to pass her by. Why not? They already have GoLocal blatantly lying about student performance in their news coverage, these details have never been reported by the press during the entirety of the State Takeover, and one can easily envision this continuing unabated.

I would be remiss if I did not indicate that what I describe here is fundamentally underwritten by a certain frame of fiscal conservatism. It is common knowledge in public education that there exists a certain type of administrative bureaucrat who treats the school district textbook budget line-item as a bailout fund for their favored publisher. Commissioner Infante-Green could have used the funds expended upon the subpar ARC curriculum to improve upon the School District infrastructure and convert the buildings to the American Federation of Teachers-endorsed Community Schools model used in Pawtucket. Instead, she threw away thousands of perfectly usable, acceptable, and already-approved textbooks in order to force teenagers to read books for toddlers and privileged white kids in the suburbs.

This is a bipartisan issue that needs to be understood clearly as we approach both the midterms and the gubernatorial election. Gov. McKee should be challenged by a Progressive Democrat for his tremendous lack of fiscal responsibility and discipline in this State Takeover that has been under his control for the majority of the time.

To abscond this obligation and leave the opportunity for a cynical Republican would be moral cowardice, ethical malfeasance, and professional suicide for anyone concerned with truly improving outcomes for our kids.