Woonsocket Radio News Room

House approves McNamara bill to include SurveyWorks indicators in evaluation of schools

 

STATE HOUSE — The House of Representatives Tuesday passed legislation introduced by Rep. Joseph M. McNamara (D-Dist. 19, Warwick, Cranston) that would include input from parents when evaluating school performance. The measure now moves to the Senate for consideration.

The bill (2025-H 5162) would incorporate the SurveyWorks school climate indicators for evaluating the performance of school districts and individual public schools.

SurveyWorks is Rhode Island’s Department of Education survey suite. The Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education conducts these annual surveys of students, parents, teachers/staff, and administrators as part of a coordinated effort to improve schools.

“SurveyWorks is an important tool that lets the Department of Education know how parents, students and educators feel about the school by commenting on their personal experiences,” said Representative McNamara, who chairs the committee. “Last year, nearly 125,000 participated in the survey, giving feedback and making important suggestions about how to improve Rhode Island schools. Utilizing this information when evaluating local educational agencies affords the Department of Education a broad range of information beyond testing and other measurements of student performance.”

Students, educators and families are currently in the process of filling out this year’s surveys. The deadline to complete it is March 31. The survey can be found at ride.ri.gov.                                     

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