1	District Reference Groups Manchester Board of Education August 21, 2006
2	District Reference Groups DRG = A classification system in which Connecticut school districts that have public school students with similar socioeconomic status (SES) and need are grouped together.
3	District Reference Groups 1979: “Communities” of school districts 1989: Educational Reference Groups (ERGs) Indicators Median Family Income Education Occupation Family Structure Poverty Home Language District Enrollment
4	District Reference Groups 1996: Manchester was in ERG F based upon information from the 1990 census and data provided by the school district on enrollment and poverty. 2006: Manchester placed in DRG G based upon information from the 2000 census and data provided by the school district on home language, enrollment and poverty.
5	Educational Reference Group F 1996 – 2005
6	District Reference Group G 2006
7	District Reference Groups District Reference Groups (DRG) are based primarily upon the 2000 census data. The change to DRG reflects how groups are related to demographic characteristics and the size of districts, NOT to the performance of students in the districts.
8	District Reference Groups Indicator: Family Income Median family income for families with children in school Manchester
9	District Reference Groups Indicator: Education Percent of parents with a bachelor’s degree or higher; for DRG purposes, both parents Manchester
10	District Reference Group Indicator: Occupation Percent of parents age 16 or older with a job in executive, management, or professional field Manchester
11	District Reference Groups Indicator: Family Structure Percent of children living in single parent or in non-family households Manchester
12	District Reference Groups Indicator: Poverty Percent of students from families eligible to receive free or reduced lunch Manchester
13	District Reference Groups Indicator: Home Language Percent of children whose families speak a language other than English at home Manchester
14	District Reference Groups Indicator: District Enrollment Manchester
15	District Reference Groups For the school districts in DRG G, the following indicators are significantly different from all other DRGs: The percentage of children from single-parent homes The percentage of children in poverty
16	District Reference Groups Cautions: Groupings based upon 2000 data (income, education, occupation, family structure) Groupings based upon families residing in a district, not school attendance areas DRGs may not accurately reflect the characteristics of districts that have magnet schools
17	District Reference Groups SUMMARY The following changes occurred in Manchester school district data over the past 10 years: Increase in % parents’ occupational level Decrease in % of parents with bachelor’s degree or higher (refers to BOTH parents’ status)
18	District Reference Groups SUMMARY (cont’d) Increase in % single-parent families Increase in the % of families who speak a language other than English at home Increase in % poverty
19	District Reference Groups “The DRGs set a context for districts to critically review the resources they allocate to education and student participation in academic programming.” - SDE Research Bulletin “District Reference Groups, 2006”, June 2006
20	District Reference Groups Strategic School Profiles will continue to report resource information for district, DRG and state variables (staff, hours of instruction, students per computer, expenditures per pupil). SSPs will NOT include DRG information for academic variables such as CMT and CAPT.
21	District Reference Groups For further information on (ERGs) and (DRGs), refer to the CT State Department website. Go to: School and District Data: “Research Bulletins”. http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/cedar/databulletins/index.htm
22	District Reference Groups Town of Manchester Website: http://www.ci.manchester.ct.us/ Capital Regional Council Of Governments (CRCOG): “Trends Shaping Our Region” January 2004 http://www.crcog.org/