RI Schools: The Basic Facts
Profile of Schools, Student Characteristics,
   and Kids Count

Learning and Achievement
Assessments
Disaggregations
Accountability
How Rhode Island Classifies Schools
2004 School-Performance Classification:
Elementary  |Middle  |High

Using Information
State Indicators
Value Added:
Elementary  |Middle  |High
Attendance and Graduation Rates,
Learning Support Indicators:
Elementary  |Middle  |High

Safe and Supportive Environments
Students' Point of View:Middle  |High
Suspensions

Equity and Adequacy of Resources
Property Value/Student Compared to
   Tax Rate
Tax Capacity and Effort
In$ite: Including Other Commitments
In$ite: Excluding Other Commitments
Out-of-District Obligations
In$ite: Instruction
In$ite: General Education
Middle  |High

Curriculum and Instruction
Advanced Placement Exams
Teaching Practices:
Elementary  |Middle  |High
Inclusion
Students with Disabilities
Students with Disabilities: Participation
Elementary  |Middle  |High
Students with Disabilities: Participation by District
Elementary  |Middle  |High

Engaging Families
Elementary  |Middle  |High

View/download Profile of Schools, Student Characteristics, and Kids Count chart (17KB)

What you are looking at

These charts give information about the public schools in Rhode Island, the students who attend these schools, and the teachers who teach in them.

The Profile of Public Schools table gives an overall census of the Rhode Island public schools for the year 2003-04. The pie charts show the information about the students attending schools in Rhode Island. The Kids Count table contains information about the economic status of families with children; the table compares Rhode Island with the other New England states, and it shows how each of the states compares with the nation as a whole.

What you are looking for

You are looking to get a sense of the composition, diversity, and economic status of school population in Rhode Island.

Profile of Public Schools

Public Schools

In the 2003-04 school year there were 319 public schools in Rhode Island:

The state’s local school districts operated 301 public schools plus 3 public charter schools: Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy and Times2 Academy, both in the Providence School District, and the New England Laborers/Cranston Public Schools Construction Careers Academy.

The state operates 4 schools: the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, the William M. Davies Jr. Career-Technical High School, and The Metropolitan Regional Career & Technical Center (The Met), which are operated by Boards of Trustees, and the Rhode Island Training School for Youth, which is operated by the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

In the 2003-04 school year, there were 7 independently operated public charter schools; each of these schools functions in effect as its own school district: CVS Highlander Charter Elementary School and Paul Cuffee Charter School, both in Providence; International Charter School, in Pawtucket; the Compass Charter School and the Kingston Hill Academy, both in South Kingstown; and the Beacon Charter School, in Woonsocket.

The Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program is a public school. There are 6 other regional collaboratives, which provide special-education and alternative-education services for children in the districts within their region. These collaboratives are considered regional programs rather than schools.

There are 3 publicly operated early-childhood centers (preschools). These three public schools are not subject to the accountability provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, nor do they receive school-performance classifications through the Rhode Island accountability system.

In addition to the 319 public schools:

There are 8 Area Career & Technical Schools operated by school districts:

• Career Center at Coventry High School
• Chariho Area Career & Technical Center
• Cranston Area Career & Technical Center
• East Providence Area Career & Technical Center

• James L. Hanley Career & Technical Center
• Newport County Career & Technical Center

• Warwick Area Career & Technical Center
• Woonsocket Area Career & Technical Center

These are not stand-alone high schools; they are operated by school districts, and they enroll students from outside the district. Each has its own school report, however student test scores are attributed to the high school where the student takes core academic subjects. None of these Area Career & Technical Schools receives a school-performance classification.

School Districts

In 2003-04 there were 36 locally operated public school districts, including four regional districts (Bristol-Warren, Chariho, Exeter-West Greenwich, Foster-Glocester).

Each of the 4 schools operated by the state is a state school district.

Each of the independently operated 7 public charter schools is a charter school district.

Characteristics of Students

Participation in public school

Public charter: The percentage of Rhode Island’s students who are enrolled in charter schools, whether independently operated or operated by a school district, as of October 2003.

Other public schools: The percentage of Rhode Island’s students who are enrolled in public schools operated by a district, as of October 2003, exclusive of those enrolled in public charter schools.

Home instructed: The percentage of students who have received permission from the school committee of their local district to be instructed at home according to the provisions of Section 16-19-2 of the General Laws of Rhode Island, as of October 2003.

Nonpublic: The percentage of students who attend private or parochial schools, as of October 2003.

Eligibility for subsidized lunch

Eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: Students whose family incomes fall below certain income (poverty or near-poverty) guidelines. This measure indicates the percent of students who were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in October 2003.

Not Eligible: Students whose family income falls outside the low-income guidelines as of October 2003.

Ethnic background

African-American: A student having origins in any of the African-American racial groups, not including people of Hispanic origins.

Asian: A student having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Pacific Islands, e.g., China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, and Samoa.

Hispanic: A student of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

Native American: A student having origins in any of the original peoples of North America, including American Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts.

White: A student having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, or the Indian subcontinent.

Receiving ESL or bilingual education

Bilingual: A student who receives instruction in English and another language to support content-area learning while learning English as a second language.

English as a Second Language: A student who receives content-area instruction solely in English while learning English as a second language.

Receiving special-education services

Self-contained: Percent of the state’s students in self-contained special-education classes, in which instruction is provided by a special educator in a separate special-education setting for more than half of the instructional day.

Resource: Percent of the state’s students in resource special education, in which instruction is provided by a special educator for less than half of the instructional day.

Other programs: Percent of the state’s students who receive special-education services through other delivery arrangements.