By William Hamilton
PBN Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE – Almost three of every four public schools in Rhode Island met all of the performance targets set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act in standardized testing last fall, although urban schools continued to fare much worse, according to results released by state officials today.
While 85 percent of the schools in suburban districts met all the targets and were deemed to be making sufficient yearly progress, only 41 percent of the schools in the urban districts – Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence and Woonsocket – met all the targets.
“The school classifications… once again show that there are two Rhode Islands,” said Peter McWalters, commissioner of elementary and secondary education. “Our suburban schools are performing very well, but less than half of our urban school met all of their annual targets. We must continue to focus our school-reform efforts and investments on improvements in our urban districts.”
In a press conference at the Statehouse this morning, state officials acknowledged that the percentage of Rhode Island schools that had made adequate yearly progress slipped to 73 percent last year from 80 percent in 2006.
But both McWalters and Gov. Donald L. Carcieri noted that the bar was raised in 2007, requiring a higher rate of proficiency among students in reading, writing and math to be considered meeting the standards. Although fewer schools officially made adequate yearly progress, McWalters said most schools are showing progress.
“The trend lines are excellent,” McWalters said today.
Another area of concern, according officials from the R.I. Department of Education (RIDE): Fewer than half the high schools met all of the targets.
Robert G. Flanders Jr., chairman of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, said it is a pattern officials have seen in recent years, but he was confident it would change. “I expect the new diploma system will help ensure that all our graduates reach proficiency,” he said.
Based on results of 2007-2008 standardized tests in math, reading and writing, as well as attendance and graduation rates, the No Child Left Behind data released today showed that 82 percent of all elementary schools and 72 percent of middle school met all of the targets. Only 46 percent of high schools did so.
Among the 81 schools that missed one or more of their targets, 23 schools missed for the first time and were put on “caution” status. The remaining 58 schools are classified as making insufficient progress and may face sanctions such as implementing a corrective action plan or restructuring.
State officials also said 12 school districts did not meet their annual targets, five of them for the first time. Ten school districts are in “intervention status,” which means they have missed targets for more than two years in a row. In those cases, RIDE works directly with the districts on corrective actions.
According to data from RIDE, districts on “watch status” for failing to meet all targets are: Coventry, Cumberland, North Kingstown, Portsmouth and Warwick.
Those on “intervention status” are: East Providence (first year); Cranston, Middletown and Newport (these districts met targets in 2007-2008, but need two consecutive years of doing so to get out of intervention status); North Providence (second year); West Warwick (fourth year); Central Falls, Pawtucket, Woonsocket (sixth year); and Providence (seventh year).
South Kingstown made all of its targets for two years and was removed from intervention status, RIDE said.
For more information about the No Child Left Behind Act, including testing results for the state's schools, go to school list, report card information and classification system.
