About this data

Rhode Island assigns a Star Rating to every public school. Ranging from 1 to 5 stars, the Star Rating simplifies and summarizes overall school performance, providing an easy-to-understand snapshot for families and communities. Unlike past accountability systems, which used an aggregated score, the Star Rating is determined using a broader 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, culture, and achievement, including such measures as student and teacher chronic absence, suspension rates, and student pathways.

The left side of the diagram presents school star ratings in the 2018-19 school year, the right side presents school star ratings in the 2021-22 school year. The middle of the diagram represents school movement over that time period. Many schools remained at the same rating, however some did move up and down respectfully.

In 2018-19 there were 126 (45%) three-star schools, compared to 128 (45%) three-star schools in 2021-22. The data also demonstrates that there was an individual school that increased from a two-star school to a five-star school from 2018-19 to 2021-22. The number of five-star schools remained the same with 21 schools (7%), with 5 individual schools moving down to four-star status and five moving up from other star ratings.

NOTE: Rhode Island received an accountability waiver for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school year due to COVID-19.