State Report Card
Student Performance Adjusted for “Value-Added”
 Download an
illustrated guide to understanding the value-added charts
(PDF format, 22 KB)
Select a school level to view and/or
print the charts.
WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT
These three lists—one each for high
schools, middle schools, and
elementary
schools—show what percentage of the students in each school met
or surpassed
the standard on four of the state tests. These lists use the 2002
assessment data
only. The lists are sorted in such as way as to show you how the
students in each
school performed in comparison with similar students statewide. In
the schools in
the top band on each list, for example, the students performed
better than similar
students statewide on all four tests. WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
If you were to sort RI’s schools by test scores, you would find
that you have also
sorted them by family income. This phenomenon would hold true in
other states,
and in other nations. Without the strong intervention of effective
schooling,
students tend to achieve according to their socioeconomic
backgrounds. It does
not have to be this way. Schools can make a difference in a
challenged child’s
life. We call this concept “value-added.” By using a statistical
model, we can
show which schools do very well—add value—with a difficult student
population,
and which schools may have test scores that seem impressive but
that, when
compared with similar students statewide, could be better. This
value-added model compares the performance of each school’s students
with the performance of similar students statewide by adjusting for
these factors:
- Poverty (by far the strongest predictor of student
achievement, with the
exception of prior achievement)
- Non-English speaking background
- Educational background of the parents
- Having special learning needs, and
- Having a minority racial-group identity
Though individuals with one or more of these characteristics
can and do perform
well on state assessments, the majority tend to perform less well
than children
who do not have these characteristics. The many reasons for these
historic
patterns of lower achievement include such things as school
expectations, the availability of flexible grouping and different
types of instruction, inadequate
funding and support to the schools these children attend,
individual and family
health, and the quality of social services offered to students.
Go to Technical Bulletins for a
technical description of the model.
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