Technical Brief on the 1999 Statistical Model

Information Works!

The intention behind Information Works! is to offer a variety of school indicators to help the public and educators understand more completely the schools and the widely varying contexts within which schools, teachers and students operate. The ultimate goal of Information Works! -- and indeed Article 31 which created it -- is to assist each school in its efforts to improve student achievement by providing measures that focus on getting all students to the level of PROFICIENT as well as demonstrating less obvious progress toward these desired ends. As Article 31 recognizes, certain schools or districts will need more help and more time to produce optimal student achievement. Information Works! supplies information that can help schools by informing their strategic planning and school improvement initiatives. The Comprehensive Education Strategy (CES) states quite emphatically that many things will have to change in order to create high-performing schools for all RI children. Everyone from the schoolhouse to the statehouse will have to get involved if we are to succeed. Certainly, these changes must include the development of new methods for evaluating schools in ways that provide a rich, supportive context for school-based decision making and coordinated state policy changes.

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