Behind the Story

8/20/25: Patrick Anderson discusses Gov. McKee's education agenda

Episode Summary

Patrick Anderson of The Providence Journal joins Eli Sherman and Dan McGowan to discuss the governor's ongoing education initiatives.

Episode Notes

Patrick Anderson of The Providence Journal this week joined Eli Sherman and Dan McGowan on “Behind the Story” to discuss his recent reporting on Gov. Dan McKee's education agenda.

Anderson is a government and politics reporter at the Projo, and he's part of a team of reporters who put together the newspaper's weekly Political Scene column.

The column this week focused on the governor's education agenda, which includes bolstering out-of-school learning for students to try and make up for education missed out on during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anderson discusses whether the policies are working, and what ground needs to be covered to achieve the governor's goal of closing a persisting gap between Rhode Island and Massachusetts standardize testing scores by 2030.

Later in the show, Dan and Eli talk about the “Stories We Wish We Wrote.” They include (not all mentioned on air):

Dan’s picks

Eli’s picks

Watch “Behind the Story” Thursdays at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on the WPRI 12+ TV app.

It airs on TV (Sundays at 8 a.m. on FOX Providence and 11 a.m. on The CW Providence), and will be available on demand through the WPRI 12+ app and right here on WPRI.com.

“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman and Kim Kalunian of 12 News, along with Dan McGowan of the Boston Globe.