Learning and Achievement: Assessment and Accountability
2005 Assessment Results
High Schools and Early-Grade Schools Only
What you are looking at
You are looking at a graphic representation of the assessment scores on the Spring 2005 state tests. The 100-point scale represents 100% of the children at this grade level. The dark, colored band at the top of the bar shows the percentage of the highest scoring students. The dark gray band near the bottom indicates the percentage of the lowest scorers. The black band at the bottom shows those students who should have been tested but were not.
In the 2004-05 school year, state assessments were administered only in high schools and in the early-grade schools. Because the R.I. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE) was developing a new assessment for elementary schools and middle schools, these schools were not tested during 2004-05. These schools took the new transtion – The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) test – in the fall of 2005, and the results will be included in Information Works! 2007.
High-school students still take the New Standards Reference Exams (NSREs) in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Some students with disabilities – less than 1 percent of the student population – take the state’s Alternate Assessment. They, too, are assessed on the same scale, and the results of those assessments are incorporated into this report.
The two numbers below each bar show the percentage of students who met or exceeded the standard in this school and the percentage of students who met or exceeded the standard in the state as a whole school level.
For another look at this data, comparing this year’s results with last year’s, see the 2005 School and District Report Cards, at www.ride.ri.gov.
What you are looking for
You are hoping to see that all children have met or exceeded the standard and are represented only in the top two blocks.
Note: For additional information about each school’s performance on the 2005 assessments, particularly for information about how well various groups of students within the school performed, see the 2005 School and District Report Cards – Assessment Results, at www.ride.ri.gov.
No Score
The lowest band on the assessment bars, labeled “no score” in the legend, shows the percentage of eligible test-takers who were absent or did not complete the multiple-day testing. To achieve 100% participation by eligible test-takers, some schools need to reduce the extent to which their students either don’t come to school, won’t come because of poor school climate, or do not complete the test sufficiently to obtain a score.
Test subscales
The NSRE in mathematics contains three subtests, which are: Skills, Concepts, and Problem Solving. The NSRE in English language arts contains four subtests, which are: Reading: Basic Understanding, Reading: Analysis and Interpretation, Writing: Effectiveness, and Writing: Conventions. Particular items from the entire test, which is taken over the course of three days, are grouped in various ways to form the subscale scores. Some items are used in more than one subscale.
The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT)
The SAT is not part of the Rhode Island assessment program. Students who so choose pay to take the tests to fulfill college-admissions requirements. The scores shown in IW! are only for seniors, representing the highest score each senior attained (some of which had been attained while they were still juniors). The participation rate is derived by taking the fall 2005 enrollment divided by the number of seniors who have an SAT score.
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