RIDE Releases New District Accountability Model & Guidance

Published on Thursday, December 17, 2020

New Local Education Agency & District Accountability Model, Full Implementation in Fall 2021

Providence, RI- The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) announced the release of a new district accountability model and guidance for local education agencies (LEAs) in Rhode Island. Established by the Rhode Island Education Accountability Act of 2019 (S0865), the district accountability system includes three-year strategic planning (LEA level), state assessment plans (LEA and school level) and annual improvement plans (school level), along with a statewide monitoring system.



“This model helps RIDE transition from an agency concerned only with compliance, to one focused on providing the necessary support to our LEAs who need it most,“ said Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. “This district accountability system both increases transparency and strategic planning at the local level. This means that districts identified as needing improvement will be provided with support such as technical assistance, data analysis and executive coaching to help improve outcomes.”



With the primary focus on support and student outcomes, the guidance establishes clear expectations for growth and improvement that include all students across LEAs and use data-driven development plans that put students first to drive improvement. The new monitoring system will track district progress and performance towards targeted areas of growth and improvement for all students and student groups, including multilingual learners (MLLs) and differently-abled students.



Rhode Island’s model was developed with input from national experts and incorporates best practices from other states’ accountability systems. It is based on RIDE’s school accountability model and utilizes the same star rating system as the school report cards. At the highest level, this model will aggregates school ratings at the district level. The star ratings of districts will help define the overall successes and challenges of a district and will be used to determine the level of support RIDE provides to them for improvement efforts.



Full implementation of the model, which will include publicly shared results, is planned for the fall of 2021 pending administration of the 2021 spring state assessment. Districts will be awarded a rating of one to five stars based on their performance on each of the indicators in the most recent reporting year. For most measures, districts are evaluated based on the previous academic year. However, the Graduation and Diploma Plus measures are calculated on a one year lag due to the additional time needed for collecting and validating these data. District star ratings provide the potential to include students who may not have been included in school star ratings. Additionally, multiple schools in a district may not have enough students to report a measure or student subgroup, but when aggregated to the district level, could have enough data to hold the district accountable for student populations too small to count at the school level.



RIDE will pilot the supports to districts with a cohort of several LEAs during the 2020-21 school year and make refinements to the model prior to its full implementation in the 2021-22 school year. RIDE will also explore additional indicators such as finance and facilities, that could eventually be part of district report cards. Updated guidance that reflects these refinements and additions will be released prior to the 2021-22 school year. RIDE will provide training on the district accountability model to district leaders and other stakeholders accordingly.