User's Guide: District Reports – Page 4

Characteristics of Students, School Performance, and Additional Indicators

Characteristics of students
For more information, see the school-level Characteristics of Students chart in the User's Guide. The district chart is similar, with the following exception:

Student participation in Public School
This pie chart shows, from the student population living in the district, what percentage attend public school, what percentage attend private or parochial school, and what percent is home-instructed. Note that for the two districts that send their students to high school in another district (Jamestown to North Kingstown; Little Compton to Portsmouth), the high-school students are counted here as part of the population of the sending district, not the district in which they attend high school.

Schools in this district whose students met or exceeded the standard
This table compiles the “value-added” data from each of the School Reports within the district. The value-added data shows how well the students in each school performed on each subtest when compared with similar students statewide. For more information, see the school-level Value-Added chart in the User's Guide.

School Performance and Improvement
These pie charts and tables show what percentage of the district’s schools fall into each of the state’s performance classifications. See the User's Guide's School Classification Indicators & Performance Progress chart for an explanation of the state’s classification and accountability system.

One table on the right-hand side shows how many schools in the district are Regents’ Commended Schools. These schools have made progress in both English language arts and mathematics for the past two years.

Another table on the right shows how many (and what percentage of) schools in the district have been “identified for improvement.” Schools have been identified for improvement if they have made insufficient progress for two years in a row – that is, the second year of insufficient progress marks the first year of identification for improvement.

If a school receiving federal Title I money (for high-poverty schools) is identified for improvement, it is subject to sanctions under the No Child Left Behind Act.

• In the first year identified for improvement, parents may choose to send their children to another school in the district (school choice).
• In the second year, students are eligible for free supplemental educational services.
• In the third year, the district devises a plan for “corrective action” to try to improve student performance in the school.

  Note: Schools that made progress in 2003 may still be “identified for improvement” if they made insufficient progress during the two previous years. Also note: For the purposes of identifying schools for improvement under the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act only, the category “low performing, not improving” as defined under the state’s previous accountability system is considered the equivalent of “insufficient progress” under the current accountability system.

  District Classification
  On some district reports, a third box on the right-hand side shows a district classification.

  Not all districts are classified. Some districts, however, are classified as “in need of improvement.” The are given this classification if:

• Either the district as a whole has missed targets at more than one school level
• Or if more than 40 percent of the schools in the district as classified as “in need of improvement – insufficient progress.”

Additional Indicators
See the school-level Additional Indicators chart in the User's Guide.