PROVIDENCE – It is close to a 50-50 split across Rhode Island regarding schools that are performing at a high level and those that are not, according to 2022 school accountability and improvement results released by the R.I. Department of Education on Dec. 16.
Most schools in the Providence Public School District were rated low, the results indicate.
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The new data marks the first release of the state’s Star Rating system – detailing each of Rhode Island municipal and charter schools’ performance under the Every Student Succeeds Act – since the COVID-19 pandemic began. RIDE said the Star Rating is based on a wide range of performance measures, such as achievement in both math and the English language arts on the state’s comprehensive assessment system exams, student improvement, graduation rates, and student and teacher absenteeism.
Each school was rated between five stars for the highest performance and one star for the lowest. Most of those one-star schools are identified for “comprehensive support and improvement,” which is a federal designation for a state’s lowest-performing school, RIDE said.
The 2022 data results for all 309 municipal and charter schools are mixed. About 51%, or 158 total schools across Rhode Island, were rated three stars or higher, with 116 schools rated at three stars. Just 14 Rhode Island-based public schools, most of which were in Barrington, had a five-star rating, according to RIDE’s data.
One hundred thirty-two Rhode Island schools had a two-star rating or worse.
In PPSD – which is under state control in part because of low student performance – 31 of the district’s 40 schools have a two-star rating or lower. Classical High School is the only city school to receive a four-star rating for performance.
According to the data, only six PPSD-based schools saw improvements in their star ratings from 2019, the last year ratings were issued before the pandemic’s onset. George J. West Elementary School, Nathan Bishop Middle School, Hope High School, Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, Robert L. Bailey IV Elementary School and the Providence Career and Technical Academy were the only district schools to improve their star ratings.
Additionally, the data shows that 34 PPSD schools had a chronic student absentee rate of greater than 40%. Out of the 51 schools across the state that had a chronic absentee rate of less than 15%, none of them were in Providence, according to the data.
In a statement, R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said the star ratings offer a snapshot that underscores the “significant impact” the pandemic had on the education system. It also highlights the need for “continued targeted academic, social and emotional supports in our schools, particularly among our most vulnerable populations,” Infante-Green said.
“To stem the broader impact of the pandemic, we are committed to working closely with school leaders to continue to build and expand programs to help our schools accelerate learning and guide our students forward,” Infante-Green said. “We share our gratitude with the Rhode Island education community, who will use this data responsibly to inform families of their students’ schools and improve student outcomes across the board.”
The full date data for all schools across Rhode Island can be seen here.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
The ratings are totally unacceptable no matter how you slice it.