Name of Report: 2003 School & District Report Cards
Organizational Affiliation: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Author: Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Date: 2003
Contact Information: Rhode Island Department of Education
255 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
401-222-4600 ext. 2182 (telephone)
Pages: 9
Content Summary
The state-wide Rhode Island Report Card compares success of children on English Language Arts and Mathematics assessment tests from 2002-2003 for grades four (4), eight (8), and ten (10). The report also includes information about target scores, percent of students tested and attendance rates. The student demographics include African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, Whites, students with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency, economically disadvantaged students, males, and females. The report compares the percentages of these aforementioned student groups in these categories: “percent of students with no score”, “percent of students with little evidence of achievement”, “percent of students below the standard”, “percent of students who nearly achieved the standard”, “percent of students who achieved the standard”, “percent of students who achieved the standard with honors”, and “percent of students who met/exceeded the standard for Rhode Island”.
Major Findings
For the categories of students with no score and poor achievement, racial minorities, the economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and particularly students with limited English proficiency are showing little evidence of achievement in comparison to white students. Percentages of these groups in such low-achievement categories can be as much as seven times higher than that of whites. While there is improvement from 2002 to 2003 minority groups continue to lag behind their white peers; the achievement percentage gaps tends to stay static from grades four to ten. Most striking is the disparity between limited English proficiency (LEP) students and all other students (including minorities); for example, in 2002 7.3% of LEP students achieved the standard in English Language Arts assessments while 38.6 of Asian-Americans and 49.2% of Whites achieved the standard. The final tables indicate that Whites were more successful in reaching their target scores for each grade level.
Unaddressed Issues Or Concerns
This report attempts to address attendance in Rhode Island and reports numbers as high as 94.6 percent (in 2003) yet it fails to look at the demographics of attendance rates. Percentage of tardiness and truancy are higher among minority groups. For example, the national drop-out rate of Hispanics is twice that of African-Americans and nearly four times that of non-Hispanic Whites (Zehr 2). Other underlying factors that affect performance such as cultural alienation and biased suspensions would add to the perspective of this report. While this document provides useful data, a more comprehensive set of questions and indicators would benefit this report.
Reference List
Zehr, Mary Ann. “Un Dia Nuevo for Schools.” Education Week 20.10 (2000): 1-12.
How to Access Report
http://131.109.26.242/reportcard/03/