In a brief article published by EducationWeek, contributing writer Daarel Burnette II discusses Rhode Island’s newest choice for the commissioner of education. Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo recommended Angélica Infante-Green as the state’s next commissioner of education. Infante-Green is an expert on English Language Learner communities, a first-generation immigrant, and originally hails from New York.
According to the article, Infante-Green is the “daughter of Dominican immigrants, received her undergraduate degree in architecture but, after college, decided to switch careers after a Teach for America stint as a dual-language teacher in the South Bronx.”
As she continued with education, she “rose through the ranks in New York City schools, serving as a dual-language project director, the founder of a school for recent immigrant arrivals, and the associate commissioner for bilingual education and world languages.”
Rhode Island students have performed “significantly worse than Massachusetts students do,” according to recent test results and as a result the state endeavors to revamp its school system, placing belief in Infante-Green’s knowledge and expertise in ELL and bilingual education.
As Infante-Green states, “This is an important, exciting moment in Rhode Island education… The foundation is in place, and we must have the courage and collective will to act boldly on behalf of all of our students.”
