§ 16-90-2 - Findings of fact. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 16-90-2

   § 16-90-2  Findings of fact. – The general assembly makes the following findings of fact:.

   (1) The high schools of the state of Rhode Island play anintegral role in preparing students for college and work in the 21st century.The high school outcomes improvement act recognizes that high school success ismore important than ever for the health of our economy, for civic life, and toensure equal opportunity. It is of critical importance to the success of ourpublic high schools to prepare all students for college and work in the 21stcentury.

   (2) Without accurate data on graduation rates it is extremelydifficult to evaluate the efficacy of the state's system of public education.Better information can lead to better policies and program implementation.

   (3) Parents and community members, who are critical toensuring strong educational accountability, are hampered in their efforts toimprove our schools if they do not have accurate data.

   (4) It is of critical importance that accurate data becollected, maintained, analyzed and publicly reported by our state's educationsystem with respect to high school student graduation rates.

   (5) In the state of Rhode Island, existing data fromindependent researchers indicates that when graduation rates are broken down byracial and ethnic group, by students with disabilities compared to theirnon-disabled peers, by English language learners and by socio-economicallydisadvantaged students compared to non-disadvantaged peers, that many of thesesub-groups are experiencing particularly low rates of high school graduation.

   (6) Ultimately, the state of Rhode Island is committed todevelop and implement a student-unit-record data system, with unique studentidentifiers that can track students through the state's education system fromkindergarten through post-secondary education.

   (7) The state must commit to developing and maintaining adata and public reporting system that accurately accounts for all students whencalculating high school graduation rates and informs the public of progresstoward the goal of universal high school graduation.