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 Rhode Island State Indicators (PDF, 22 KB)

SALT Survey Indicators

SALT Survey teacher response rate: The percentage of the total number of eligible teachers who responded to the 2004 SALT Survey.

SALT Survey student response rate: The percentage of the total number of students who responded to the 2004 SALT Survey.

SALT Survey parent response rate: The percentage of students whose parents responded to the 2004 SALT Survey.

Student Indicators

Student attendance: The percentage of time the average student was present during the required 180 instructional days per year.

Stability: The proportion of the total student enrollment in the state that stayed in one school through the whole school year.

Mobility: The rate of student turnover, that is, the percentage of students in the state who moved into or out of a school during the school year.

Dropout rate: The percentage of students, from the Class of 2004, who dropped out of school; this percentage is calculated using four years of data, that is, by tracking the students from this graduating class from the time they entered high school four years ago.

Suspension rate: The total number of incidents that led to suspension, statewide, per 100 students.

Suspension rate, for students with disabilities: Same as above, but only among students with IEPs.

Teacher Indicators

Teachers with emergency certification

Full state certification in Rhode Island requires:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited or approved institution of higher learning.
• Completion of an approved teacher-preparation program within the past five years or Completion of designated professional-education course work for the area of certification sought, to include a minimum of six semester hours of student teaching or two years of documented teaching experience. In addition, secondary and special-subject teachers must have from 30-36 semester hours of designated subject content-area course work in their field of specialization.
• Passing score on the appropriate state required test.

Individuals who do not qualify for full state certification may be granted an Emergency Certificate (called an Emergency Permit, beginning in 2005) to teach in the public schools, upon written request of the Superintendent of Schools, when fully certified applicants are not available.

The Superintendents must advertise for certified candidates in the statewide newspaper and must contact local colleges and universities with educator-preparation programs. If, after those measures are completed a certified individual is not available, superintendents may send in a written request on behalf of an intended candidate for an Emergency Permit.

Highly qualified teachers

A term established by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), “highly qualified teachers” must hold full certification and must demonstrate subject-matter competency. Under state regulations, they may do so by several methods, including completing an academic major or graduate degree in the subject taught, passing an approved standardized test, meeting approved professional-development or service criteria (as detailed in the Rhode Island HOUSSE Plan, or by other approved methods.

Percent of classes not taught by highly qualified teacher: Statewide

This calculation takes into account that teachers may be “highly qualified” in one subject area but not in another. For example, a science teacher may be highly qualified to teach biology, but not to teach physics. This statistic shows the percentage of classes not taught by teachers who are highly qualified in the specific subject that they are teaching.

Percent of classes not taught by highly qualified teacher: Low-poverty schools

Percent of classes not taught by highly qualified teacher: High-poverty schools

For these calculations, all schools in the state were sorted by poverty level, using percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch as the determinant. Low-poverty schools were the quartile (25 percent of the schools) with the lowest percentage of students in poverty. High-poverty schools were the quartile (25 percent of the schools) with the highest percent of students in poverty.

Teacher-student ratio: Elementary Schools
Teacher-student ratio: Middle Schools
Teacher-student ratio: High Schools
Teacher-student ratio: Statewide

These ratios show the number of teachers per student at each school level and statewide. These calculations are based on actual counts of the number of teachers and students, as opposed to full-time equivalents, under which, for example, two half-time teachers would count as one teacher.

Teacher attendance: The teacher attendance rate reflects the percentage of time the average full-time teacher was present within the 180-day school year. This number was calculated using the number of “sick days” that accounted for teacher absences. The attendance rate is also reported for the district and for the state, by school level (elementary, middle, or high school).

Time out of class (for professional development, medical reasons, other reasons, and total time out of class): Time out of class is not necessarily the inverse of teacher attendance; teachers may be counted as in attendance while they are involved in out-of-classroom teacher training or in union activities, for example.

Teacher grievances: The number of grievances filed by teachers in 2003-04.

School and District Indicators

Schools that did not make “adequate yearly progress”: Schools that missed any of the 21 targets established by the federal No Child Left Behind Act are those that did not make “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) in 2004. These are schools that are classified either as making “insufficient progress” or as “with caution.”

Schools identified for improvement: Schools that have not made AYP in the same subject area for two consecutive years or more are “identified for improvement” under provisions of the NCLB, and they retain this status until they make AYP in that subject area for two consecutive years.

Schools facing NCLB sanctions: Once a school is identified for improvement, it may be subject to provisions of the NCLB, such as school choice (a parent’s right to transfer the child to another school within the district), free supplemental educational services (e.g., tutoring, summer school), or corrective action (developing a plan to improve school performance). Once a school is identified for improvement and faces NCLB sanctions, it retains that status until it makes AYP for two consecutive years. Note: These sanctions apply only to schools that receive federal funds under the Title I act, which gives aid to high-poverty schools.

Districts in need of improvement: Districts can be classified as “in need of improvement” in two ways. Either the district as a whole has not made AYP on more than one school level (elementary, middle, high school) or 40 percent or more of the schools in the district are classified as making insufficient progress.

The districts in need of improvement are:

First year in need of improvement: South Kingstown

Fourth year in need of improvement: Pawtucket, Woonsocket

Fifth year in need of improvement: Providence

Districts in “Intervention Status”: School districts enter “intervention status” if they are “in need of improvement” for two years in a row; they remain in intervention status until they have met their required targets for two years in a row. RIDE works closely with districts in intervention status through the process of Progressive Support and Intervention, which is established in state and federal law.

The districts in intervention status are:

Central Falls, East Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, West Warwick, and Woonsocket.

Also see further discussion of adequate yearly progress and the Rhode Island Accountability system.