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

Participation of Students in Career Preparation

What you are looking at

The top graph shows what percentage of students in each school participated in school-to-career and career and technical-education programs during the 2003-04 school year. Students participated if they were enrolled in at least one school-to-career or career and technical-education course.

The types of programs are:

Academies: A career academy is a “school within a school” or a small learning community that prepares high-school students for both college and careers. An academy provides broad information about a field such as health care, finance, or engineering, and it weaves this career theme into an academic curriculum that qualifies students for admission to a four-year college or university.

Career & Technical programs: These are a sequence of courses designed to prepare students for an occupation (e.g., nurse’s aide, carpentry) or a cluster of courses in an occupational area (e.g., health care, construction) that typically requires education below the baccalaureate level.

Tech Prep: A sequence of courses, typically beginning in grade 11, that usually leads to an associate’s degree or certificate after two years of post-secondary training. Tech-Prep programs build student competency in academic subjects and provide broad technical preparation in a career area. They integrate academic and vocational or technical subject matter.

Career Exploration (or Career Awareness): Courses designed to provide some in-depth exposure to career options for students. Career Exploration builds career awareness, helps students examine work and the workplace, and includes activities that will help students discover their strengths and career interests. Career Awareness may be made up of courses from more thatone content area or courses from one content area only. The courses are often designed to give students the appropriate preparation to meet their career goals. The courses also may make students aware of the broad range of careers, including options that may not be traditional for their gender, race, or ethnicity. Unlike Academies, Career & Technical programs, and Tech Prep, these are individual courses rather than a full academic program.

Note that students may be participating in a program and in career-exploration courses, so the total participation may exceed 100 percent.

This set of bars shows what percentage of the students, in each gender and in various groups, participate in school-to-career or career and technical education. Special Education includes students with disabilities who have Individual Education Programs (IEPs). LEP includes students who are English-language learners (generally, their first three years studying in the English language). Economically disadvantaged students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

(Definitions adapted from the Rhode Island Career and Technical Education Information System.)

What you are looking for

We would like to see substantial participation (at least 25 percent) in school-to-career or career and technical-education programs, particularly career exploration. We would also hope that there are no “equity gaps” separating the various groups of students; all students, regardless of their gender, racial or ethnic group, educational or economic status, should have equal access to school-to-career courses programs.