Publications

In the 2024-2025 school year, Annenberg launched the Professional Learning (PL) Network in RI, a community of practice with six Rhode Island school districts focused on curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL).

This report, produced in partnership with the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association (RISSA) and the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), examines the current state of teacher professional learning (PL) in Rhode Island. It identifies challenges districts face and provides guidance for district and state leaders to strengthen PL.

The study examines summer Algebra 1 readiness camps in five Rhode Island districts, launched to help prepare rising 9th graders for the state’s new high school math requirements.

A brief identifying six data-driven opportunities to strengthen teacher recruitment and retention in Providence, with retention of novice teachers and a thin applicant pool as the central challenges.

A brief tracing how Rhode Island districts spent federal recovery funds on curriculum, professional development, and technology — with spending in those areas rising 66% on average, and some districts more than tripling it.

Interviews with Rhode Island educator preparation providers and Providence Public Schools HR identify what stands in the way of stronger partnerships — and what would make student teaching placements work better for both sides.

The first brief in Annenberg's ESSER series, finding Rhode Island districts largely used federal recovery dollars to pay existing staff rather than expand hiring, leaving staffing levels flat.

A brief testing the teacher shortage narrative against Providence data — finding vacancies stubbornly high and retention down, but no mass exodus, with hiring the bigger bottleneck.