Rhode Island § 16-108-3 - All Students Count Act

§ 16-108-3. Data transparency.

(a) Whenever the department of elementary and secondary education collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origins of students for a report that includes educational proficiencies, graduation rates, attendance rates, and access to educational resources, the entity shall use separate collection categories and tabulations in accordance with the following:

(1) No later than twelve (12) months after a decennial United States Census is released to the public, each entity shall use the collection and tabulation categories for the Asian population groups as they are reported by the United States Census Bureau as well as people with disabilities and English language learners.

(2) The categories used by each entity for Asian population, to the extent not already required pursuant to this section, shall always include, but not be limited to, the following Asian ethnic groups:

(i) Cambodian, Filipino, Hmong, Laotian, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian ethnic groups.

(3) Until the release of the next decennial United States Census following the enactment of this chapter, each entity shall use the enhanced data collection and tabulation categories that the entity was previously required to use.

(4) Each entity shall comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. § 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99) and shall observe criteria for ensuring statistical significance of data collected and published.

(i) Districts reporting data with a student group that has too few students, as defined by a minimum size of ten (10), for evaluation must be notated.

(5) Each entity shall cross tabulate data of student outcome by gender, disability, and English proficiency for all students.

(6) Each entity shall make the demographic data publicly available, except for personal identifying information, which shall be deemed confidential, by posting the data on the applicable entity’s website by July 1, 2018, and shall update the data annually thereafter. This subsection shall not be construed to prevent any other state agency from posting data collected on the state agency’s website, in a matter prescribed by this section.

(b) This chapter shall only apply to the collection of data for students in the public elementary and secondary education system. It does not apply to the demographic data of students participating in postsecondary education.

(c) If the state determines that this chapter contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made.