RIDE Releases 2024 School and District Accountability Results

Published on Tuesday, December 17, 2024

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) today released the 2024 school and district accountability results. Under Rhode Island’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, the accountability results build off previously released assessment results and provide a holistic view of school and Local Education Agency (LEA) performance across multiple measures, including non-assessment measures like student chronic absenteeism.

Further, the Star Rating system for schools simplifies and summarizes overall school performance, classifying schools from 1 to 5 stars to provide families and school communities a transparent, accessible, and easy-to-understand snapshot of school performance. While RIDE also releases accountability performance data for LEAs, it does not issue overall LEA star ratings. School and district accountability data are housed within RIDE’s online Report Card platform. View RIDE’s Accountability presentation here.

"The 2024 accountability results reflect our responsibility in holding schools accountable for student outcomes while providing transparency for families and communities," said Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. “The accountability system shines a light on areas of strength and where improvement is needed. This system helps our schools, districts, and state take meaningful steps to ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed. RIDE will continue to work closely with school leaders to ensure districts can better meet student needs and improve outcomes."

“To know how to best support our schools and students, we need to gauge their strengths and areas for improvement, which is what our school accountability system allows us to do,” said Chair of the Rhode Island Board of Education Michael Grey. “The success of our state depends on the success of our students, and the Board remains committed to working diligently to make sure our school communities have the assistance and resources to help our children thrive.”

“Our school accountability system provides students, families, and school leaders crucial insight on what is working and what needs to be done to promote better academic achievement,” said Council on Elementary and Secondary Education Chair Patti DiCenso. “As a former superintendent, I encourage superintendents and school leaders to dig into these results and create actionable strategies to improve outcomes for their students. On behalf of the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, I thank every school leader in the Ocean State for their tireless work in support of our students.”

Statewide, out of 306 schools, there are 20 5-star schools, 32 4-star schools, 124 3-star schools, 81 2-star schools, and 37 1-star schools. 12 schools, which recently opened, did not receive a rating due to limited years of available data. In total, 48 schools increased their star ratings and 29 decreased. The majority of schools receiving a star rating are now 3 stars or higher accounting for 60% in 2024 compared to 50% in 2023.

Within the 1-star category, there are 22 schools identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), a federal designation for a state’s lowest performing schools. CSI schools are eligible for additional levels of support as they undergo their school improvement efforts. Rhode Island has combined the requirements for Community Advisory Boards (CAB) and School Improvement Teams (SIT) to form CSITs (Comprehensive School Improvement Teams) to explicitly engage families and community members in the school improvement process. 

Star Ratings are determined using a broad range of performance measures. Schools must perform well across all measures to earn a high star rating. In other words, high performance in a single category cannot mask low performance in another. The primary drivers of the accountability system, and of Star Ratings, are student achievement and student growth, measured through performance on state assessments. These measures are rounded out by a more expansive view of school climate and culture.

For the first time this year, RIDE has publicly released results for students earning a Seal of Biliteracy and will factor the seals into star ratings starting in 2025. The Seal of Biliteracy celebrates students who demonstrate multilingual competence, which is an important asset Rhode Island students will need to be global citizens and competitive in the 21st century economy. Students earn a Seal of Biliteracy by demonstrating both English language proficiency standards on RIDE-approved ELA or ELP assessments and nationally-recognized world language standards on RIDE-approved world language assessments. Students with the Seal of Biliteracy earn college credit at the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, and the Community College of Rhode Island. Reported 2024 data is based off of the 2023 exit cohort, similar to Diploma Plus measures. 

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