Business leaders working with the Providence school system received advice and a challenge from someone who wrote the book on school/business partnerships.
Author Diana W. Rigden told the business community during a recent luncheon that they must play a vital role in determining what students will need to know in order to succeed.
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“If we are serious about making sure that every child has the opportunity for high academic achievements then business leaders and educators must be willing to make a long-term commitment,” Rigden said.
Rigden is the author of “A Role for Business and Business/School Partnerships” and the director of the Teacher Education Program at the Council for Basic Education in Washington. She was the speaker at The Public Education Fund Fall Luncheon held on Nov. 20 at the Providence Marriott.
The Public Education Fund is a private, non-profit group dedicated to advocating for students in need — through scholarships and grant programs — and working for school reform.
The talk was attended by 200 people, including business leaders involved in the Providence schools’ Business Advisory Council. This fall, the council called on 50 business people to work with individual schools to provide expertise in areas ranging from accounting to maintaining school facilities.
Rigden said the role of business will have to expand here and throughout the country.
“Business and industry (needs) to remind us that the world has changed in the last few years in terms of what students need to know and be able to do to work productively today,” she said. Rigden said it is not only important for business to identify needed skills, but for schools to make sure that they are teaching them correctly.
“With the support and collaboration of business and community partners, educators need to define explicitly what they expect their students at different grade levels to know and be able to do,” Rigden said. She added, “These ‘standards’ — if that’s not too political a term to use here in Rhode Island — inform parents, students, teachers, educators and community leaders not only of what is expected, but also on how well students are learning.”
Margaretta L. Edwards, executive director of the Public Education Fund, said Rigden’s message did ring true for many business people in the audience.
“She pointed out that just graduating from high school will no longer get you a good paying job. You need much more education,” said Edwards. “The level of education — physics, algebra and advanced math — are all required for these jobs.”
Edwards said a comparison by Rigden on how schools and business have changed in the last 25 years was an effective way to consider the problem in the schools.
“You walk into a business today and it works nothing like it did 25 years ago, but you walk into a school and it doesn’t look any different than it did 25 years ago,” she said.
