Outgoing R.I. Chief Bucked National Push for High-Stakes Tests
Peter J. McWalters first turned heads 20 years ago as the superintendent in Rochester, N.Y., where he hammered out a labor contract that dramatically changed the teaching profession in that city and made the district briefly famous.
Years later, in his job as education commissioner in Rhode Island, Mr. McWalters would draw attention time and again as he set the state apart with his brand of reform. His rejection of high-stakes testing when other states embraced it, and his insistence on personalizing high schools and measuring would-be graduates by more than their scores on standardized exams, have helped make him one of the country’s best-known and most-respected state schools chiefs.
His go-against-the-grain style also may have contributed to the end of one of the nation’s longest tenures at the helm of a state school system. Last month, Mr. McWalters, 61, announced that
he will step down in June 2009
, closing out what will...
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