Brown and Providence Schools
Voices of Impact
Learn more about how Brown-Providence partnerships and Brown’s graduate education programs benefit students and educators.
Voices of Impact
Learn more about how Brown-Providence partnerships and Brown’s graduate education programs benefit students and educators.
Local Voices
Through education, research and community engagement initiatives, as well as financial support for the district priorities, Brown makes a direct and positive impact on students in Providence’s pre-K-12 classrooms. Here, those who work most closely with Providence students and their families share their thoughts on that impact.
DEEPS Science-Teaching Education Program
The DEEPS students brought invaluable perspectives and experience to our classroom — happy to share their experiences, knowledge and background, and a great connection to the larger world of science for my students. The focus has been to allow students to… ‘do’ science rather than to learn a set of facts about a scientific topic. This approach really is what science instruction ought to be if we want to foster the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Brown Elementary Afterschool Mentoring
People always ask, ‘How are your test scores so high? How are your attendance rates and teacher retention so high?’ Brown Elementary Afterschool Mentoring is a big part of that.
Hope High School Library and Media Center
About a year and a half ago, President Paxson and I toured Hope High and sat here in this library to discuss how we could work together to improve the school. The whole time we talked, we looked at the stained ceilings and the missing tiles in the flooring. It looked like we had given up on these students. A year later, here we are in the most beautiful space — a space that tells our kids that they count and they matter.
Interactive STEAM Room at Vartan Gregorian
I firmly believe in providing hands-on activities for kids in addition to traditional classroom instruction. Providing a space for exploratory learning, where students have a chance to build and collaborate, is essential to ensuring they become well-rounded learners.
Graduate Voices
Brown’s graduate education programs give students the perspectives and tools they need to become agents of change for urban schools and systems, in Providence and beyond.
Whether they aspire to become teachers, policymakers, researchers or educational leaders, Brown’s Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) and Urban Education Policy (UEP) graduate students leave the University feeling prepared to lead with impact, in Providence schools and beyond.
Almost 100% of graduates of every MAT class are certified to teach in Rhode Island upon graduation — and many have the opportunity to get to work in Providence-area schools right away. Each year, up to 10 Urban Education Fellows from the graduating MAT and UEP classes commit to three years of full-time work in Rhode Island's urban core, united by a common desire to improve educational outcomes for all students in urban classrooms and a commitment to equity and inclusion. MAT fellows teach in Providence-area schools, while UEP fellows take positions in the public sector or at a local nonprofit organization focused on education.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/VgDrYy1aISY
Theory meets practice
In the MAT program, Kashmeel McKoena, now an educator at The MET School, learned the importance of building a solid relationship with students.
Brown’s MAT program taught Carol Amaya — a former high school history teacher in Providence public schools and now the district’s humanities, social studies and civics coordinator — how to design a curriculum that draws connections between historical events and current inequalities.
While at Brown, 2017 MAT graduate Sofia Dias learned how to engage students in urban schools using literature by authors of color.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/14c-L78hSiM
Hands-on learning
Through the UEP program, Heather Johnson completed courses on addressing educational inequity and participated in internships with PPSD and RIDE.