PROVIDENCE – The latest results from the state’s 250 elementary and middle schools show that 171 schools or 68 percent tested as “high performing,” up from 62 percent last year, according to a report released today by the R.I. Department of Education.
Thirty-nine schools, or 16 percent of the total, were awarded the designation of Regents’ Commended Schools for their exceptional performance or improvement in English and mathematics.
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“We have classified schools in Rhode Island for six years, and during that time, we have worked intensively with schools making insufficient progress,” Peter McWalters, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said in a statement.
“Today, we see that many of these schools have achieved positive results. I am confident that by working together to bring all students to proficiency, we are on the path toward continuous school improvement.”
Statewide, the tests of mathematics, reading and writing administered last October showed improvements of 4 percentage points in reading and 3 percentage points in mathematics.
Additionally, 213 schools or 85 percent met all of the targets of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, compared with only 70 percent last year.
Thirty-six schools, having missed targets for multiple years, will face “some form of sanction, such as providing parents the option to choose another school, offering supplemental education services or undergoing restructuring,” the department said. But only 14 are new to the sanctions list, while 12 met their targets this year and are halfway to qualifying for removal from the list.
Schools that will face sanctions for the first time are the Alan Shawn Feinstein and Ella Risk elementary schools in Central Falls; the B.F. Norton Elementary School in Cumberland; the Frank E. Thompson Middle School in Newport; the Fallon Memorial and Potter-Burns elementary schools in Pawtucket, plus the Joseph Jenks and Samuel Slater junior high schools; the Edmund W. Flynn, Robert L. Bailey IV, Webster Avenue and William D’Abate elementary schools in Providence; Wakefield Hills Elementary in West Warwick; and the Harris School in Woonsocket.
Schools that met their targets this year and will be cleared of sanctions if they meet their targets for a second year in a row are Veterans Memorial Elementary in Central Falls; the Flora S. Curtis Memorial and M. Virginia Cunningham elementary schools in Pawtucket; the Alfred Lima Sr., Charles Fortes, George J. West, Harry Kizirian, Laurel Hill Avenue, Pleasant View and Windmill Street elementary schools in Providence, and the city’s Nathanael Greene and Oliver Hazard Perry middle schools.
“Though faced with many challenges, more than 200 of our schools have met all of their annual targets,” said James A. DiPrete, chairman of the state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education. “They are truly meeting the needs of all students.”
Additional information, including data on all public elementary and middle schools in Rhode Island, can be found at www.ride.ri.gov, by going to the Office of Assessment and Accountability then clicking on 2007 School Performance Classifications. High school classifications, based on tests administered in March, will be released in the fall.
