Bristol Warren leaders highlight mixed gains on 2024 state report card, point to attendance and English‑learner progress

Bristol Warren Regional School Committee Assistant Superintendent Dr. Sanneh on Monday summarized the district’s 2023–24 accountability results from the Rhode Island Department of Education, highlighting progress in English language proficiency, reductions in suspensions and improved attendance while noting ongoing academic achievement gaps in state assessments.

The presentation explained the state’s accountability framework — which RIDE developed to meet the 2015 federal Every Student Succeeds Act requirements — and described three component areas used to rate schools: academic performance (state assessments), student success (attendance, suspensions and school climate), and college-and-career readiness (graduation rates, credentialing and the commissioner’s seal). Dr. Sanneh said the report cards presented combined the 2023 and 2024 assessment results, including RICAS for grades 3–8, PSAT-to-SAT growth at the high school and English-proficiency growth for students identified as multilingual learners.

Why it matters: the report card is used for school improvement planning, family engagement, and to guide district budget and grant priorities. Dr. Sanneh told the committee the ratings inform where the district places coaching and intervention supports and said the district uses the data to target instruction at the classroom level.

Highlights and local school details - Districtwide: Dr. Sanneh said the district showed “realized growth in ELA” and an increase in students earning the commissioner’s seal and postsecondary credits. She credited teachers, coaches and principals for the gains and said there were reductions in suspension rates across the district. - Hugh Cole Elementary (Principal Grimsey): Grimsey reported removal from Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) plans for both the students with disabilities subgroup and the Hispanic subgroup, calling that “a step in the right direction.” He said chronic absenteeism at Hugh Cole fell from 24% in 2022 to 16% in 2023–24 and was about 12% so far in the current school year, and he highlighted increased math growth and science proficiency at the school. Grimsey also noted the school earned a five‑star rating in English language proficiency and said teachers and district coaches use frequent instructional walk‑throughs and co‑teaching to support multilingual learners. - Gutierrez: The school increased ELA scores overall, Dr. Sanneh said, but the students-with-disabilities subgroup did not make the gains needed there and remains an identified area for targeted literacy acceleration during a designated block of instruction. - Coles/Colt Andrews: Principal Kearns reported a 13% decrease in chronic absenteeism, expanded use of literacy and math coaches, and daily small-group intervention blocks. - Rockwell and Mount Hope High School: Principals described steady or improved performance in student success measures and noted targets for writing and math growth. Mount Hope reported increases across multiple indicators including graduation rate and diploma-plus measures and stated the school moved toward offering more AP and credentialing opportunities.

How subgroups are treated and definitions Dr. Sanneh reiterated that subgroup data are included in accountability calculations only when a subgroup contains 20 or more students. She explained that the English-language-proficiency rating derives from the ACCESS test, which applies only to multilingual learners; that rating therefore measures English-language development and can diverge from RICAS academic achievement scores. “The ACCESS rating is for MLL students,” she said. “It’s possible for a student to make strong ACCESS gains while still needing more support on the academic RICAS measures.”

Interventions and next steps District leaders emphasized continued investment in coaching, tiered intervention blocks (often called literacy or math acceleration blocks), and professional learning focused on writing and implementation of core curriculum. Several principals said the district’s coaching model, literacy specialists and partnerships (including with local colleges for classroom support) are central to planned improvements.

Quotes from the meeting - “The commissioner’s seal is for students who achieve a 4 in both SAT math and SAT English,” Dr. Sanneh said when asked to define that metric. - “When our teachers implement the current curriculum, students learn,” Principal Grimsey said, noting spot checks and walkthroughs are used to measure implementation.

Ending Committee members praised school leaders for the work and asked for continued focus on writing instruction and subgroup supports. Dr. Sanneh closed by saying the district will keep monitoring local assessment data and using MTSS meetings and coaching to guide improvement work.

(Full school-by-school slides and the district report card are available on the RIDE website and on the Bristol Warren district site.)