NEW: GoLocal Investigation Finds RI PARCC Data Flawed

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle

Not only have Rhode Island PARCC scores come back shockingly low, some of what has been reported might not even be correct.  

According to a GoLocal review, at least one school's numbers appear to be flawed in the reporting, and is currently being addressed by the Rhode Island Department of Education. 

Scituate School Department Assistant Superintendent Lawrence Filippelli confirmed that RIDE is now looking into why the number of Scituate Middle School students that was reported is half of what it should be.

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"I'm as stumped as you are," said Filippelli.  "But I can tell you I'm getting hit by parents, board members who are asking about this, and I just want to know what kind of clarification or redaction there will be given publicly.  I mean, this is out there, and it's wrong.  What else is wrong?"

Numbers Scrutinized

The PARCC scores released by RIDE on Tuesday had listed Scituate Middle School as having 178 total students -- and a 92% participation rate.  

"That number should be much higher, it should be around 350," said Filippelli, of the total number of students at the school.  

Scituate High School had a participation rate of 27%, which accounted for the highest rate of opt-outs in the state.

"We had an incredible number of opt-outs in our district.  We did everything we could to keep a log of contact with parents, we were directed by RIDE to talk with parent," said Filippelli. "I think there were a few things at play -- the national movement, social media, even educators not fully vested, I knew I was going to have high opt-out numbers."

"I was one of the only voices in the state last year saying there's no federal regs on the opt-outs. So now what I have is the district bearing the burden for what families have the right to do," said Filippelli.  "The whole thing is disheartening, we work so hard, we've always been top twenty district in the state -- what does it say when one of you best districts numbers are so bad.  These numbers should be null and void."

"I was told there was a glitch in the upload of the data," said Filippelli. 

RIDE did not think the error would affect performance results.

"The Scituate MS #s do appear to be wrong and we are looking into that – it could affect participation rates (not % meeting expectations) for this school," said RIDE spokesperson Elliot Krieger.

Editor's note: A previous version had Scituate High School's opt-out rate as 27% - it's been updated to reflect that 27% was the number that took the test. 

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