State Report Card

Selected State Indicators

SALT Survey teacher response rate: The percentage of the total number of eligible teachers who responded to the 2003 SALT Survey.

SALT Survey student response rate: The percentage of the total number of students who responded to the 2003 SALT Survey.

SALT Survey parent response rate: The percentage of students whose parents responded to the 2003 SALT Survey.

Student attendance: The percentage of time the average student was present during the required 180 instructional days per year.

Stability: The proportion of the total student enrollment that entered a school at the beginning of the year and stayed in the same school through the end.

Mobility: The rate of student turnover, or the percentage of students who moved into or out of a school during the school year.

Dropout rate: The percentage of students, from the Class of 2003, who dropped out of school; this percentage is calculated using four years of data, that is, by tracking the students from this graduating class from the time they entered high school four years ago.

Suspensions/Total # of Students: The total number of incidents that led to suspension, statewide, in comparison with the total number of students statewide.

Students with IEPs: Suspensions/Total # of Students: Same as above, but only among students with IEPs.

Teachers with emergency/special provisional certification: Full state certification in Rhode Island requires:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited or approved institution of higher learning.
  
  
• Completion of an approved teacher-preparation program within the past five years or completion of designated professional-education course work for the area of certification sought, to include a minimum of six semester hours of student teaching or two years of documented teaching experience. In addition, secondary and special-subject teachers must have from 30-36 semester hours of designated subject content-area course work in their field of specialization.
  
  
• Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) Test, for either K-6 or 7-12.
  Individuals who do not qualify for full state certification may be granted an emergency certificate to teach in the public schools, upon written request of the Superintendent of Schools, when fully certified applicants are not available. The Superintendents must advertise for certified candidates in the statewide newspaper and must contact local colleges and universities with educator-preparation programs. Individuals who have completed approved programs or who have completed all requirements for certification but who have not passed the PLT test may be issued a one-year special provisional certificate.

Teacher attendance: The teacher attendance rate reflects the percentage of time the average full-time teacher was present within the 180-day school year. This number was calculated using the number of “sick days” that accounted for teacher absences. The attendance rate is also reported for the district and for the state, by school level (elementary, middle, or high school).

Teacher grievances: The number of grievances filed by teachers in 2002-03.

Schools identified for improvement: Schools that have not made “adequate yearly progress” for two consecutive years or more are “identified for improvement” under provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

For the 2002-03 school year, those schools that RIDE classified as making “insufficient progress” did not make adequate yearly progress. In previous years, those schools that RIDE classified as “low performing, not improving” did not make adequate yearly progress.

Once a school is identified for improvement, it is subject to provisions of the NCLB, such as school choice (a parent’s right to transfer the child to another school within the district), free supplementary educational services (e.g., tutoring, summer school), or corrective action (developing a plan to improve school performance). Once a school is identified for improvement, it remains in that status until it makes adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years.

Note: These provisions apply only to schools that receive federal funds under the Title I act, which gives aid to high-poverty schools.

Districts identified for improvement: Districts can be identified for improvement in two ways. Either the district as a whole has not made adequate yearly progress on more than one school level (elementary, middle, high school) or 40 percent or more of the schools in the district are making insufficient progress. Further discussion of adequate yearly progress is available here.

The districts in need of improvement are:

First year in need of improvement

• Bristol-Warren
• Burrillville
• Coventry
• Johnston
• Lincoln
  

Third year in need of improvement

• East Providence
• Pawtucket
• West Warwick
• Woonsocket

Fourth year in need of improvement

• Central Falls
• Providence.