NEW: RI Groups Say More Students Impacted by NECAP Moratorium
GoLocal News Team
NEW: RI Groups Say More Students Impacted by NECAP Moratorium
The NAACP Providence Branch, the ACLU of Rhode Island, Providence Student Union, Young Voices, RI Teachers of English Language Learners, and Parents Across Rhode Island sent a letter to state legislative leaders saying the moratorium impacts "far more than the students who received diplomas this year," and countered the Board’s assertion that only one student has benefited from the moratorium this year. The groups say they have documents showing at least three other students received diplomas after the moratorium went into effect.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“The law achieves, and was always designed to achieve, many other important goals. For instance, it has the tremendously beneficial impact of eliminating the charade that school districts had to go through this year of handing out more than 1,000 supposedly ‘extremely rare’ waivers in order to bypass the NECAP mandate. The elimination of the hypocrisy surrounding this requirement – in which RIDE constantly came up with more and more exceptions to the rule in order to avoid the mandate’s real consequences – would alone be reason enough to extol the virtues of the new law," the groups state in the letter.
They continue, “But perhaps its most important impact is in ensuring that, at least for the next three years, teachers won’t have to waste hours and hours of classroom time teaching to an irrelevant test, and students won’t be dragged out of real classwork in order to spend pointless hours cramming for a meaningless standardized test."
“We remain grateful for the General Assembly’s action in passing this important law. The Board of Education’s continued recalcitrance in accepting it only highlights why it was so necessary," the letter concluded.
10 RI State Education Rankings
4th Grade Test Scores
Math
Rank: 26 out of 50
State Average Score: 241
National Average Score: 241
Reading
Rank: 18 out of 50
State Average Score: 223
National Average Score: 221
Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2013 Mathematics and Reading Assessments.
8th Grade Test Scores
Math
Rank: 27 out of 50
State Average Score: 284
National Average Score: 284
Reading
Rank: 25 out of 50
State Average Score: 267
National Average Score: 266
Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2013 Mathematics and Reading Assessments.
High School Dropout Rate
Rank: 10 out of 50
State Dropout Rate: 4.6%
National Average: 3.4%
Source: US Department of Education
High School Graduation Rate
Rank: 33 out of 50
State Graduation Rate: 76.4%
National Average: 78.2%
Source: US Department of Education
SAT Scores
Rank: 40 out of 50
State Combined Score Average: 1468
National Average: 1498
Source: College Board
High School AP Scores
Rank: 33 out of 50
State Percent of Class Scoring 3 or Higher on AP Exam: 14.6%
National Average: 20.1%
Source: College Board
Chance for Success
Rank: 21 out of 50
Grade: B-
National Average: C+
Source: Education Week Research Center
Note: Index that grades the nation and states on 13 indicators capturing the role that education plays as a person moves from childhood, through the K-12 system, and into college and the workforce.
K-12 Achievement Index
Rank: 27 out of 50
Grade: D+
National Average: C-
Source: Education Week Research Center
Note: Index that evaluates educational performance on 18 individual indicators that measure current achievement, improvements over time, and poverty-based disparities.
Per Pupil Expenditure
Rank: 5 out of 50
Amount Spent: $17,666
National Average: $10,938
Source: NEA Research, Estimates Database (2013)
Average Daily Attendance
Rank: 49 out of 50
State Average: 80.9%
National Average: 96.7%
Source: NEA Research, Estimates Database (2013)
Note: Figure reflects the aggregate attendance of a school during a reporting period divided by the number of days school is in session during this period.
