Indicator Measures and Definitions

1. Student Attendance

Law requires all Rhode Island districts to conduct 180 instructional days per year. The student attendance rate reflects the percentage of time the average student is present within that 180 day period.

2. Kindergarten Class Size

The average kindergarten class size is computed by dividing the total number
of kindergarten students by the total number of sessions taught by classroom teachers. (Half-day kindergarten teachers teach two sessions a day.) This indicator may reflect the opportunity that teachers have to provide individualized attention to students.

3. Faculty/Student Ratio

Schools do not yet have uniform definitions that would allow this number to be reliably computed. This year it says NA (not available), but it will be computed
in the future.

4. Yearly Enrollment Change

This is the percentage, plus or minus, that the school or district grew or declined when compared to the previous school year.

5. Mobility

The percentage of students who were in the school less than the full year.

6. Teacher Attendance

The teacher attendance rate reflects the percentage of time the average full-time teacher is present within the 180 day instructional period. This number was
calculated using the number of "sick days" which accounted for teacher absences.

7. Teacher grievances

This is the number of grievances filed in the building in 1996-97 compared with the number of full-time teachers.

8. Suspensions for Weapons

The number of students who have been temporarily dismissed from school or
sent to an alternative placement for the possession of any destructive device (grenade, missile, pipebomb, etc.), firearm, weapon, including a starter gun or any instrument or object intended to inflict harm on another person (knife, brass knuckles, Chinese stars, etc.). The number of incidents is followed by the total number of students in the building. CAUTION A single student may account for multiple supensions.

9. Suspensions for Drugs

The number of students who were temporarily dismissed from school or sent to
an alternative placement by duly authorized school personnel for the sale of, or possession with the intent to sell, or possession of any controlled drug, narcotic substance or equipment and devices used for preparing or taking drugs or narcotics. This category includes over-the-counter and prescription medications abused by students. The number of incidents is followed by the total number of students in the building.

10. Suspensions for Other Reasons

The number of students who have been temporarily dismissed from school or sent to an alternative placement for any infraction not listed above including those reported in the "other" category, and assault of a teacher/student school staff by student. The number of incidents is followed by the total number of students in the building.

11. Drop Out

The drop out rate is derived by subtracting the cumulative completion (see #12 below) rate from 100. This manner of figuring rates uses a four-year picture which takes into account key factors such as annual differences in class size and the different grades at which students drop out. The statistic reported here is based on the number of drop outs reported annually by grade level for students who drop out between October 2 of the previous school year to October 1 of
the current year.

12. Graduation

The high school graduation rate represents the percent of the current ninth grade class that will graduate from high school based on aggregate current dropout rates at the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade.

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