In December, the Rhode Island Department of Education released the 2024 accountability scores for the Providence Public School District, which detail moderate improvements compared to previous years. These accountability scores measure the progress of school performance in the PPSD, which has been under state takeover since 2019.
In a press release, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Angélica Infante-Green shared that “the 2024 accountability results reflect our responsibility in holding schools accountable for student outcomes while providing transparency for families and communities.”
Star Ratings — ranging from one to five — were introduced as a simplified overview of various school accountability factors in 2018 under Rhode Island’s Every Student Succeeds Act plan. This year, seven PPSD schools increased their star rating. Two schools increased their ratings by two stars — Asa Messer Elementary School increased from one to three stars, while Classical High School increased from two to four stars.
Star Ratings are determined using a broad spectrum of academic performance measures including annual student improvement on state assessments, English language proficiency, student absenteeism, suspension rate and graduation rate. In a recent press release, RIDE stated that the measures for Star Ratings were “rounded out by a more expansive view of school climate and culture.”
A notable reduction in chronic absenteeism contributed to some score improvements — across the district, chronic absenteeism rates went from 48.4% in the 2022-23 school year to 36.2% in 2023-24.
Victor Morente, a RIDE spokesperson, wrote in an email to The Herald that the accountability rating system is conducted in accordance with the ESSA and informed by a Committee of Practitioners. He added that the system incorporates performance measures intended to highlight student performance.”
Within these accountability scores the lowest-performing schools across the state are designated for Comprehensive Support and Improvement. RIDE identifies and reevaluates CSI schools every two years.
Since the last CSI classifications were made in 2022, the number of CSI schools decreased from 11 to nine. Five schools exited and three new schools entered CSI, which overall accounted for “approximately 3,000 fewer Providence students learning in CSI schools,” according to a press release.
Andrea Gonzalez Sanchez, program manager of Young Voices RI, felt that when evaluating schools, determining whether schools ensured that students felt safe, cared for and supported should be prioritized over test scores.
Gonzalez Sanchez expressed concerns about how testing practices could be unfair to schools with a high percentage of multilingual learners. Since some tests are administered in English, multilingual learners could struggle more than their native English-speaking peers. This means schools with higher proportions of multilingual learners may see lower test scores and subsequently lower school ratings.
Morente shared that key updates were included in RIDE’s ESSA plan amendment, including an update to the ELP measure that he believes provided a more complete picture of student progress in language acquisition.
ELP metrics are calculated based on students’ progress toward English proficiency. Students’ individual targets are determined based on their initial language abilities when entering the district, and their annual progress is then compared to those targets. This data is then compiled for all students to determine each school and district’s comprehensive ELP score.
In November, the PPSD exited federal monitoring — required under a 2018 settlement agreement — for failing to adequately serve multilingual learners and federal non-compliance issues.
Julianna Espinal, a PPSD student and member of activist group Take Back PVD, said that the PPSD was progressing, but slowly: “It’s moving an inch and we should really be moving a mile,” she said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Julianna Espinal's first name on one mention. The Herald regrets the error.
