User's Guide: Field 3
Demographic Profile

What you are looking at
You are looking at a demographic description of who is in the school. The pie charts show the percentages of the total school population who are identified with the characteristics which are described in detail below.

What you are looking for
You are looking to get a sense of the school's composition and diversity.

Demographic characteristics

Eligible for subsidized lunch
Eligible for free or reduced (price) lunch: students whose family incomes fall below certain income (poverty or near-poverty) guidelines. This measure indicates the percent of students who were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in November 1998.
Not Eligible: Students whose family income falls outside the low-income guidelines as of November 1998.

Ethnic background
Asian/Pacific Islander: A student having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Pacific Islands, e.g., China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands and Samoa

Black: A student having origins in any of the African-American racial groups, not including people of Hispanic origins

Hispanic: A student of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race

Native American: A student having origins in any of the original peoples of North America, including American Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts

White: A student having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East or the Indian Sub-Continent

Limited English Proficient (LEP)
(LEP) Bilingual: A student who receives instruction in English and another language to support content-area learning while learning English as a second language

(LEP) English as a Second Language: A student who receives content area instruction solely in English while learning English as a second language

(LEP) Other: A student who receives other program options developed by the district

Special Education
Part-time regular/resource program: A student whose Individual Educational Plan (IEP) services are provided in alternate or regular education settings for less than 50% of the school day or week

Self-contained program: A student whose Individual Educational Plan (IEP) services are provided outside of the regular education classroom for more than 50% of the school day or week

Parents' education
While the data for the other pie charts are collected by the school and apply to the school as a whole, the highest level of the parents' education is reported by individual test-takers on the test materials. Thus, the pie chart for parents' education applies only to the children in the one grade who took the tests. However, for elementary schools we used the parents' education level as reported by students in the highest grade level assessed within that building, because the information was both more complete and more reliable.

Special to the district and state reports

Public enrollment: The number (and percentage) of Rhode Island's students who are enrolled in public schools, governed by a district, as of October 1998

Non-public enrollment: The number (and percentage) of students who attend private or parochial schools, as of October 1998

At-home instructed: The number (and percentage) of students who have received permission from the school committee of their local district to be instructed at home according to the provisions of Section 16-19-2 of the General Laws of Rhode Island, as of October 1998

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