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II. The Baseline – A Wake-up Call to Rhode Island
Equity Gaps

Gaps exist in student performance between males and females, students of different races and ethnicities, and students who do and do not have special needs. Such gaps need to be addressed and eliminated. Equity gaps are shown in the areas of grade 10 math skills and problem solving and grade 10 writing in charts 6 through 8.

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Chart 6 shows equity gaps by gender, Chart 7 by race and ethnicity, and Chart 8 by special needs.

These charts demonstrate the following:

  • There is a large performance gap between females and males in writing, with females outperforming males.
  • Statistically similar proportions of whites and Asian/Pacific Islanders meet or exceed the standard in each assessment area, as do statistically similar proportions of blacks and Hispanics.
  • There are performance gaps between these two sets of groups in every subject. (The group of students who categorized themselves as "Other," was a very small proportion of the overall sample.)
  • There are large performance gaps between students in general education and those in special education or limited English programs, with students in general education outperforming students in the other two groups.

 

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While not entirely parallel, the performance of Rhode Island students on other assessments given nationally is consistent with the Rhode Island state assessment results. Chart 9 shows eighth grade student performance in math on the Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT), the New Standards Reference Exams and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). (State-level NAEP data is not available for the tenth grade.) This chart shows that student performance on New Standards skills is similar to student performance on the MAT – a test of largely basic skills. Student performance on New Standards concepts and problem solving is similar to student performance on NAEP – a test requiring the application of skills and knowledge.

Finally, the 1997 data allow us to compare the performance of students in individual schools with all other similar students in the state. Rhode Island’s goal is to have all students reach proficiency. We know, however, that at this point in time, schools and the students who attend them do not start on a level playing field. Looking at the performance of similar students allows for fairer comparisons and can guide setting intermediate benchmarks toward achieving the goal of 100% proficiency. Schools can establish benchmarks by examining the practices of successful schools.

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