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State Profiles of Public Elementary and Secondary Education, 1996-97State Profiles of Public Elementary and Secondary Education, 1996-97
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Rhode Island

Rhode Island
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 255 Westminster Street,
Providence, RI 02903

 Download, view and print Rhode Island's report as a pdf file
Download, view and print Rhode Island's report as a pdf file. 331KB
Superintendent of Education
Commissioner Peter McWalters, (401) 222-4600
National Cooperative Education Statistics Liaison
Terry Bergner, (401) 277-4600
Common Core of Data Survey Coordinator
Terry Bergner, (401) 277-4600

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
1987 1996 Demographics
134,800 151,324 Students in public elementary and secondary schools
298 316 Public schools
8,934 10,656 Teachers in public elementary and secondary schools
1,214 1,214 Land area in square miles
111.0 124.6 Public school students per square mile
24.5 26.0 Public schools per 100 square miles


Figure 1
School-age population in public elementary and secondary schools		 School-age population in public elementary and secondary schools


1987 1996 Fiscal summary
990 988 State population (in thousands)
$2,729 $4,283 State revenue per capita
$2,490 $4,053 State expenditure per capita
$297 $466 State expenditure for elem. and secondary education per capita
$121,588 $150,112 Gross state product per school-age child

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AGENCY/SCHOOL INFORMATION
1987 1996 Distribution of agencies by type
100% 41 100% 37 Total public education agencies
97.6% 40 97.3% 36 Regular school districts
0.0% 0 0.0% 0 Regional service agencies
2.4% 1 2.7% 1 State-operated agencies
0.0% 0 0.0% 0 Federally operated and other types


1987 1996 Distribution of agencies by number of schools
0.0% 0 0.0% 0 100 or more schools
4.9% 2 5.4% 2 25 to 99 schools
12.2% 5 16.2% 6 10 to 24 schools
43.9% 18 54.1% 20 5 to 9 schools
36.6% 15 24.3% 9 1 to 4 schools
2.4% 1 0.0% 0 No schools reported


Figure 2
Regular school districts by student membership size		 Regular school districts by student membership size


1987 1996 Distribution of schools by type
100% 298 100% 316 Total public elementary and secondary schools reported
97.3% 290 96.8% 306 Regular schools
1.7% 5 1.3% 4 Special education schools
0.7% 2 0.9% 3 Vocational schools
0.3% 1 0.9% 3 Other and alternative schools


Figure 3
Distribution of public schools and students by type of locale: 1996-97		 Distribution of public schools and students by type of locale: 1996-97


Figure 4
Public schools by size of student membership		 Public schools by size of student membership


1987 1996 Number of public schools by grade span category
56.0% 167 57.3% 181 PK, K, 1 to 3, 4, 5, 6
1.7% 5 1.3% 4 PK, K, 1 to 8
7.0% 21 12.0% 38 4, 5, 6, to 6, 7, 8
6.7% 20 4.1% 13 7 to 8, 9
3.4% 10 0.9% 3 7, 8 to 12
9.7% 29 12.3% 39 9, 10, 11 to 12
13.1% 39 11.1% 35 Other grades
2.3% 7 0.9% 3 Ungraded
0.0% 0 0.0% 0 Not reported

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STUDENT INFORMATION
1987 1996 Public school membership by grade
303 666 Prekindergarten
10,103 11,366 Kindergarten
12,439 13,177 First
10,440 12,390 Second
9,815 12,136 Third
9,449 11,829 Fourth
9,417 11,518 Fifth
9,022 11,472 Sixth
9,633 11,758 Seventh
9,543 11,104 Eighth
10,712 12,191 Ninth
10,311 10,609 Tenth
9,993 9,453 Eleventh
9,558 8,428 Twelfth
4,062 3,227 Ungraded


Figure 5
Public school student membership by racial/ethnic category 		Public school student membership by racial/ethnic category


1987 1996  
— 17.3% Students in special education with IEPs
19.7% 28.0% School membership eligible for free lunch
— 21.4% School-age children below poverty


1987 1995 High school completers and dropouts
96.2% 8,771 91.5% 7,689 Regular diploma
— 0.0% 4 Other diploma
3.6% 328 8.5% 714 High school equivalency
0.2% 15 0.0% 0 Other completers
  —   4.6% Dropouts
    58.2% Dropouts who were male
  31.8% Dropouts who were minority


Figure 6
Grade 8 1996 Mathematics and Science average scale scores for the state () and nation () and the 25th () and 75th () percentiles		 Grade 8 1996 Mathematics and Science average scale scores for the state (symbol) and nation (symbol) and the 25th (symbol) and 75th (symbol) percentiles


Grade 4 Grade 8 1996 Mathematics and Science achievement levels
220.4 268.9 Average Mathematics scale score [scale 0 to 500]
39.1% 40.1% Students below basic level
60.9% 59.9% Students at or above basic level
17.4% 20.4% Students at or above proficient level
1.3% 2.5% Students at advanced level
— 148.9 Average Science scale score [scale 0 to 300]
  40.9% Students below basic level
  59.1% Students at or above basic level
  26.0% Students at or above proficient level
  1.8% Students at advanced level

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STAFF INFORMATION
1987 1996 Educational staff
100% 14,569 100% 16,823 Total education staff
        Instructional staff
61.3% 8,934 63.3% 10,656 Teachers
6.2% 901 9.5% 1,594 Instructional aides
        Support staff
2.3% 328 1.8% 307 Guidance counselors/directors
2.0% 288 1.1% 177 Librarians/library support
8.2% 1,188 6.7% 1,135 Administrative support
15.5% 2,259 14.2% 2,385 Other support services
        Administrators
3.6% 526 2.2% 367 School-based
1.0% 145 1.2% 202 School district officials/administrators


Figure 7
Average number of students per teacher, by grade level		 Average number of students per teacher, by grade level


1987 1996  
1.6 1.7 Teacher to all other staff ratio
13.3 18.7 Teacher to administrator ratio


Figure 8
Average salary of full-time teachers by years of experience		 Average salary of full-time teachers by years of experience


1987 1996  
$17,447 $25,497 Average beginning teacher salary
$32,858 $43,084 Average teacher salary


Figure 9
Distribution of public school teachers by age		 Distribution of public school teachers by age


1987 1993 Preparation of teachers: highest degree earned
0.0% 0.0% Public school teachers with no degree
37.1% 40.1% Public school teachers with a Bachelor's or lower degree
53.5% 53.3% Public school teachers with a Master's degree
9.4% 6.6% Public school teachers with a degree beyond Master's

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FISCAL INFORMATION
FY88 FY97 Federal aid to education under selected programs
(in thousands of current dollars)
$6,936 $15,604 National school lunch
$795 $1,952 National school breakfast
$15,630 $23,652 Title I
$7,885 $13,404 Education for the handicapped
$5,173 $6,502 Vocational and adult education
$3,903 $6,744 School improvement
$2,811 $729 School assistance (federally affected areas)
$714 $735 Bilingual education
$36 — Indian education


Figure 10
Revenues by source		 Revenues by source


Figure 11
Current expenditures by function		 Current expenditures by function


FY88 FY97 Revenues and expenditures (in current dollars)
$682,486 $1,193,754 Revenues (in thousands of dollars)
$5,063 $7,889 Revenue per pupil in membership
$663,800 $1,151,888 Current expenditures (in thousands of dollars)
$4,924 $7,612 Current expenditure per pupil in membership


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