State Report Card

Student Performance Adjusted for "Value-Added"

Select a school level to view and/or print the value-added charts in PDF.

• High (22 KB)
• Middle (17 KB)
• Elementary (59 KB)
  

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 2003 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 Rhode Island’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:

1. Poverty (by far the strongest predictor of student achievement, with the exception of prior achievement)
2. Non-English speaking background
3. Educational background of the parents
4. Having special learning needs, and
5. 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 detailed description of the model.