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

For those of you new to Information Works!, please remember that the data is from school year 2003-2004. Each year of Information Works! displays a wealth of data gathered in the year preceding its publication.

The User’s Guide presents three kinds of information:

• The sections marked “What you are looking at” and “What you are looking for,” offer brief, user-friendly explanations for the data in each field, along with a notion of what we consider to be the information’s utility.
• When relevant, the Guide provides the source of the numbers presented and, in some cases, how they were calculated.
• In some sections, the Guide notes the changes that have resulted from state and federal policy refinements, with short explanations of or references to the policy itself.

Information Works! evolves:

Please note the following changes from Information Works! 2004:

Format:

This year, Information Works! has been reorganized into seven sections. Each section represents an action or process that schools and districts must undertake and do well in order for schools to succeed. All tables, charts, and other information in the school, district, and state reports appear under one of these headings:

1. Leading the Focus on Learning and Achievement
2. Using Information for Planning and Accountability
3. Ensuring Safe and Supportive Environments for Students
4. Ensuring Equity of and Adequacy of Human Resources
5. Recruiting, Support, and Retaining Highly Qualified Staff
6. Guiding the Selection and Implementation of Curriculum/Instruction/Assessment
7. Engaging Families and Community

Changes in the School and District Reports

We have added several pages to the school report.

Safe and Supportive Environments:

• Connectedness: Contains information for the SALT Survey of students
• Suspensions: Includes information on incidents per 100 students.

Equity and Adequacy of Resources: The In$ite financial report has been expanded to include a table on teacher-student ratios and total district expenditures and another table on per-pupil expenditures (and total number of students) for general education, special educaiton, English-language learners, and career-and-technical programs. Also, this year for the first time per-pupil expenditures are calculated by using a head count rather than a full-time equivalent count of students.

Recruiting and Supporting Teachers: Contains data from the SALT Survey of Teachers on teacher efficacy and barriers to reform; contains information on percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers; contains breakdown of information on teacher attendance, noting time out of class for professional development and other reasons.

Curriculum and Instruction: A new table shows data on student participation and scores on the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

Engaging Families and Community: Contains information from SALT Surveys of Parents and Teachers on communicating with and working with parents.

Changes in the State Report

Additional indicators have been added on percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers (disaggregated by school poverty) and on several criteria established by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), notably the number of schools that made/did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the number of schools “indentified for school improvement.”

Equity and Adequacy of Resources: A new table shows out-of-district expenditures.

Recruiting and Supporting Teachers:

• One new table shows data from the SALT Survey of Teachers regarding issues of the support teachers receive from their districts for professional development, teamworks, common planing time, and school-improvement efforts.
• In addition, the table of information on professional development now includes SALT Survey data regarding teaching experience and mobility.

Curriculum and Instruction:

• A new table shows data from the SALT Survey of Teachers regarding their teaching practices.
• Another new table shows data on student participation and scores on the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) exams.
• A third new table shows the extent to which students with disabilities are included within general-education classrooms.

Engaging Families and Communities: A set of tables show data from the SALT Surveys of Parents and of Teachers regarding communication between parents and schools and parental and community support schools.

When data could compromise confidentiality

When the number of test-takers drops below 10, the results are considered statistically unreliable and are not reported because they could compromise confidentiality. Small sample numbers make it possible to identify or to invite guessing as to the test results of individual children. Information Works! is about the functioning of schools and districts, not about individual children. Thus, very small classes of test-takers such as those at the Block Island School also not reported.

For charts and tables based on three years of assessment data – that is, tables that use the “index proficiency score” – data are not reported unless the minimum number of test-takers is more than 45 students.