RIDE Calls on Districts to Create Readiness Action Plans

Published on Sunday, October 13, 2019

SAT/PSAT Results Remain Stable Year Over Year

PROVIDENCE, RI - The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) today released results from the 2018-2019 administration of the SAT and PSAT assessments, along with data about postsecondary completion and information on the state’s shift towards a more complete picture of student performance.  

 

Statewide, student performance on the SAT went up .5 percentage points in ELA and .9 points in math, with the percentage of students performing at a college-ready benchmark at 50.5 and 31.2 percent, respectively. On the PSAT, performance improved 2.8 percentage points in ELA and decreased 2.8 points in math, with the percentage of students performing at a college-ready benchmark at 60.1 and 31 percent, respectively. 

 

Achievement gaps varied by assessment and content area, with mostly slight decreases on the SAT and modest increases on the PSAT: 

In examining year-over-year trends, Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green called on districts to create Readiness Action Plans that will include strategies for increasing participation and overall scores.  

 

“Too few of our students are graduating ready for college and career, particularly our differently abled students, multilingual students, and students of color. While our four-year statewide graduation rate is 84 percent, significantly fewer students are performing at a college-ready level on our state assessments,” said Infante-Green. “There is a disconnect, and I want to work with our partners across the state to set explicit goals to get our high school students where they need to be in order to be successful after graduation. We need to do more – and we need to move faster – in order to close the gap, increase access to opportunity, and improve student outcomes." 

 

Readiness Action Plans should be driven by data, and RIDE continues to make data more transparent, accessible, and actionable to better inform and support districts.  

 

In adopting the PSAT and SAT as the official high school assessments, the state is able to calculate clear growth scores, illustrating whether students are performing better over time in a given school. Growth is included in the state’s system of accountability. This year’s accountability results, which will be released in November, will include two new measures at the high school level, as well. Together, these are categorized as the Diploma Plus measures. 

 

“In order to chart a course forward, we need to fully understand where we are, which is why the state has made data transparency a priority. Test scores are important, but they are not the only measure of student performance,” said Barbara S. Cottam, Chair of the Board of Education. “We need to look at the whole picture, and the information provided in our updated system of accountability helps school communities to improve instruction, invest in programs, and respond to the needs of students.” 

 

The Commissioner’s Seal measures the percentage of graduates who demonstrate proficiency in both ELA and math on any approved assessment, including SAT, ACT, and certain Advanced Placement tests. This measure explicitly calls out the disconnect between student performance and graduation.  

 

Postsecondary Success measures the number of graduates who earn a credential beyond a high school diploma. Those credentials include college credits, Advanced Placement credits, industry recognized CTE credentials, and International Baccalaureate credits. The state has made significant investments in recent years into these kinds of challenging coursework and work-based learning opportunities. 

 

Since 2015, these initiatives have increased the number of RIDE-approved career and technical education programs by 60 percent; the amount of college credits earned by high school students by 162 percent; and Advanced Placement qualifying scores earned by high school students by 34 percent.  

 

RIDE has also begun tracking student cohorts to better understand what happens when they leave high school. Looking at the path of students who were high school freshmen in the 2007-2008 school year, 81 percent would graduate high school and 72 percent would enroll in postsecondary institutions. Ten years out, though, that number would drop by more than half, with only 34 percent completing postsecondary education.  

 

“Graduation is not the end goal for our students,” added Infante-Green. “The question is not ‘are they graduating?’ but ‘are they graduating with the tools and skills they need to be successful?’ That is the question we need to be asking, and we must continue to analyze the data and use it to inform the kind of teaching and learning practices that ensure that the answer is a resounding, ‘yes’.”