RI's Gist featured in Atlantic Monthly

The Atlantic Monthly has named Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist a “brave thinker” in its November issue. Asked if she was surprised by all the attention she got for threatening to fire teachers in Central Falls, Gist says:

I think people seemed to feel that teachers were being blamed for the performance of the school, which was not the way we understood what was happening.

However, Gist says, the perception of a “blame the teachers” mentality is important:

We are constantly talking about how we can do a better job of communicating… and we’ll never stop.

The Atlantic’s editors credit Gist for pushing for annual teacher evaluations and for injecting a sense of urgency into education reform in Rhode Island.