Understanding Data
Overview
These days, whenever anyone is looking for ways to improve education, a key question is "What do the data say?" Whether we're trying to boost student achievement, improving the school climate, or wrestling with a budget, good decisions need reliable data. Statistical information can point out where we need to fix problems quickly, and what we can learn from examples of success.
InfoWorks puts rich, user-friendly data at the fingertips of all Rhode Islanders, making information easy to find, understand and analyze. InfoWorks is designed to engage, inform, and empower anyone, inside school communities or out in the general public, to use statistical information to improve educational results for Rhode Island's students.
Long before the federal No Child Left Behind law mandated building data systems, Rhode Island was nationally commended for its rich array of data. The American Educational Research Association has repeatedly honored the state for having the best feelings-and-perceptions survey data in the nation, and the new SurveyWorks has only improved its quality. The upcoming Uniform Chart of Accounts (UCOA) reports will detail financial information to allow the public to compare, on an apples-to-apples basis, how schools and districts are investing their resources. InfoWorks also reports test scores, demographics, teacher quality information, and more.
We recommend that you get to know the data by choosing a level — statewide comparisons, one district, or an individual school — to investigate what's available.
Data in InfoWorks are broken into five topics based on Rhode Island's Basic Education Program (BEP) and the Strategic Plan 2010-2015. Use the links to the left for write-ups about what matters across these topics.
For specifics on how to read the charts, tables, and graphs in the InfoWorks site, check out the Intro Guide.