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 Accountability chart (PDF, 23KB)

Essentially, RIDE uses two distinct sets of data. One is the 2004 Assessment data. The second set is the “Accountability data,” which differs in several ways from the Assessment data.

For accountability, RIDE uses three years of data rather than a single year. Also, the pool of students for Accountability differs in some respects from the pool of students for Assessment. For example, the Assessment data includes all students enrolled in the school at the time the tests are administered. For Accountability, the scores are counted only for students enrolled for the full school year.

The Accountability data is compiled in accordance with provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Also see a concise explanation of the Rhode Island Accountability System: Determining School-Performance Classifications and Measuring Adequate Yearly Progress (PDF, 57 KB).

What you are looking at

Each set of bars on the facing page is based on RIDE’s “index proficiency score.” This index score, which can range from 0 to 100, is computed from the state assessments: the New Standards Reference Exams (NSRE), the Alternate Assessment, the Developmental Reading Assessment, and the Balanced Assessment in mathematics.

For each student test, every scoring level is given a point value:

Achieved the Standard with Honors = 100
Achieved the Standard = 100
Nearly Achieved the Standard = 75
Below the Standard = 50
Little Evidence of Achievement = 25
No Score = 0

By combining all student tests and all subtests, over a three-year period (2002-2004), RIDE computes two sets of index scores, one in English language arts (ELA) and the other in mathematics.

As the bar graph shows, scores are calculated for the state as a whole (All Students) at each school level (elementary, middle, and high school) and for eight groups of students at each school level.

As required by the No Child Left Behind Act, RIDE establishes an annual target in each subject area for each school level (elementary, middle, and high school). The ELA and mathematics targets are shown by the horizontal lines on the graph.

When the bars rise above their respective lines, the state has met the annual target. The bar graphs to the right show the state participation rate on each NSRE tests. The NCLB sets a participation-rate target of 95 percent.

The bar to the extreme right shows either the state attendance rate (for elementary and middle schools) or the graduation rate (high schools). RIDE has set the 2004 target at 90% for attendance; RIDE set the 2004 target for the graduation rate at 71.4%. (Data for attendance are for the 2003-04 school year only; data for the graduation rate are for the class of 2004, but the data are drawn from the past four years, from the time that class entered high school.)

What you are looking for

The bars show you that there are 21 targets at each school level: All students must meet both the ELA and mathematics targets; each of the eight groups of students must meet both targets; the state as a whole must meet both participation targets; the state as a whole must meet its attendance or graduation target.

You are hoping to see that the state has met all of its targets – that each of the bars rises above the horizontal target lines on each of the graphs.