School Classification Indicators

View/download Accountability chart (36KB)

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT

Essentially, RIDE uses two distinct sets of data. One is the 2005-06 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). See Determining School-Performance Classifications and Measuring Adequate Yearly Progress for a concise explanation of the Rhode Island Accountability System.

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT

The sets of bars on the facing page show the classification indicators for Rhode Island public schools. The indicators in the left-hand set of bars are based on the “index proficiency score.” This index score, which can range from 0 to 100, is computed from the state assessments: the NECAP tests for elementary and middle schools, the New Standards Reference Exams (NSRE) for high schools, the Alternate Assessment for students with severe disabilities at all grade levels, and the Developmental Reading Assessment for early-grade schools.

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

For elementary schools and middle schools, those values are:

Proficient with Distinction = 100
Proficient = 100
Partially Proficient = 75
Significantly Below Proficient (Upper Range) = 50
Significantly Below Proficient (Lower Range) = 25
No Evidence of Achievement = 0

For high schools, those values are:

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, RIDE computes two index scores, one in English language arts (ELA) and the other in mathematics.
As the bar graphs show, scores are calculated for students in the state as a whole (All Students) at each school level (combining all tested grades at each school level) and for eight groups of students at each school level.
As required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), RIDE establishes annual targets in ELA and mathematics for each school level (elementary, middle, and high school). The targets for each school level are shown by the horizontal lines on the graph.

When the bars rise above their respective lines, the state has met the annual targets.

The bar graphs to the right show the state participation rate on the NECAP and NSRE tests. The NCLB sets a participation-rate target of 95 percent.
The bars to the extreme right shows the attendance rates for elementary and middle schools and the high-school graduation rate. The attendance-rate target is 90 percent. RIDE has set the 2006 target for the graduation rate at 75.3%. (Data for the graduation rate are for the class of 2006, 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 21 targets for each school level, but there are in fact 37 targets for each school level. 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; all students plus each of the eight student groups must meet both participation targets; the state as a whole must meet its attendance-rate targets and its 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.