This week the Rhode Island Department of
Education (RIDE) announced its new
accountability and classification system for
Rhode Island public schools. There are six
classifications under this new system:
Commended, Leading, Typical, Warning, Focus,
and Priority. The classifications are based
on a composite index score between 1 and
100. School performance is measured in
several ways including the percentage of
students proficient on the State Assessment
in math and English Language Arts, progress
each school has made toward its own 2017
target, the school record of closing gaps
between performance of all students and
various subgroups, number of students
scoring proficient with distinction, and for
middle and elementary schools, the growth
students have shown since the last
assessment. High school classifications also
include the school’s graduation rate as a
factor.
North Kingstown Schools have been classified
as follows
|
Davisville Middle School
|
Typical |
| Fishing
Cove Elementary School
|
Warning |
| Forest
Park Elementary School
|
Typical |
| Hamilton
Elementary School |
Commended |
| North
Kingstown Senior High School
|
Typical |
| Stony
Lane Elementary School
|
Leading |
| Suzanne
M. Henseler Quidnessett
Elementary School |
Typical |
|
Wickford
Middle School |
Leading |
While I am pleased to see that our schools
are doing well, comparatively speaking, to
districts around the state, and very happy
that three of our schools have leading or
commended classifications, I want you to
know that we will use the data provided to
us from RIDE to learn and improve at all of
our schools—no matter what the rating. More
than ever, our schools have done a great
deal in the last few years to move as one
group in their expectations and practices
around curriculum, instruction, and
assessment, and we have much data from RIDE
and other sources to show that there has
been significant progress in our students’
achievement at all of our schools in recent
years.
As one can see from the opening paragraph,
there are a number of factors that go into
these classifications, and while a school
may do well in several areas, it may
experience a lower than expected
classification due to one or two problem
areas (and some of these scores may yet get
adjusted we are currently working with RIDE
on verification). At our August 14 meeting
of the North Kingstown School Committee,
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Michele Humbyrd
and I will give a detailed presentation
about the new accountability ratings and the
classifications for North Kingstown schools.
Once the school year begins, our principals
will communicate with parents about the
classifications at each school and the work
being done to learn from this data and make
the adjustments needed to address any
problem areas. In the meantime, if you wish
to learn more about these ratings and how
they were derived, we have posted
information on the district web page,
www.nksd.net.
For now, I hope you continue to have a
restful and enjoyable summer.
Phil Auger, Ph.D.
Superintendent of North Kingstown Public
Schools
|
