User's Guide: School Report – Page 1

Assessments and Accountability

2003 Assessment Results

What you are looking at

You are looking at a sample of the assessment scores on the Spring 2003 state tests. The 100-point scale represents 100% of the children at this grade level. The dark, colored band at the top of the bar shows the percentage of the highest scoring students. The dark gray band near the bottom indicates the percentage of the lowest scorers. The black band at the bottom shows those students who should have been tested but were not.

All students participate in the state assessments. Most students take the New Standards Reference Exams (NSREs) in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, plus the Rhode Island Writing and Health Education assessments. Some students with disabilities – less than 1 percent of the student population – take the state’s Alternate Assessment. They, too, are assessed on the same scale, and the results of those assessments are incorporated into the bars above.

The two numbers below each bar show the percentage of students who met or exceeded the standard in this school and the percentage of students who met or exceeded the standard in the state as a whole at this school level (elementary, middle, or high school).

For another look at this data, comparing this year’s results with last year’s, see the 2003 School & District Report Cards at www.ridoe.net.

What you are looking for

You are hoping to see that all children have met or exceeded the standard and are represented only in the top two blocks.

Note: For additional information about each school’s performance on the 2003 assessments, particularly for information about how well various groups of students within the school performed, see the 2003 School and District Report Cards – Assessment Results, at www.ridoe.net.

No Score

The band on the assessment bars, labeled “no score” in the legend, shows the percentage of eligible test-takers who were absent or did not complete the multiple-day testing. To achieve 100% participation by eligible test-takers, some schools need to reduce the extent to which their students either don’t come to school, won’t come because of poor school climate, or do not complete the test sufficiently to obtain a score.

“Parental refusal” exemptions to the Health Test
The RI Health Education Assessment, administered in grade 9, is the one test from which students may be exempted if parents so request in writing. Statewide, 93 children’s parents signed them out of the health test in 2003. Those children are counted as “not proficient.”

Test subscales
The NSRE in mathematics contains three subtests, which are:

• Skills
• Concepts
• Problem Solving

The NSRE in English language arts contains four subtests, which are:

• Reading: Basic Understanding
• Reading: Analysis and Interpretation
• Writing: Effectiveness, and Writing: Conventions.

Particular items from the entire test, which is taken over the course of three days, are grouped in various ways to form the subscale scores. Some items are used in more than one subscale.

The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)
The SAT is not part of the RI assessment program. Students who so choose pay to take the tests to fulfill college-admissions requirements. The scores shown in Infoworks are only for seniors, representing the highest score each senior attained (some of which had been attained while they were still juniors). The participation rate is derived by taking the fall 2003 enrollment divided by the number of seniors who have an SAT score. (SAT scores are shown on School Reports for high schools only.)