Public schools remain at the
center of Rhode Island life,
from the capital city of Providence to
the smallest towns on the shores of
Narragansett Bay. And for families
living, working, and paying taxes in
Rhode Island, the quality and performance of these schools are more
important than ever. Which is why GoLocalProv.com has spent months
researching and analyzing every public, charter, and technical high school
in the state. The results for 2011 are in.
The Top Schools: Patterns
What did we see, after hundreds of
hours of research, fact-checking, and
analysis? That here in the Ocean State,
the top high schools reflect a diversity
of geography, but, as might be expected,
a correlation to municipalities with the
resources to support high funding per
student, low student-teacher ratios, and
student preparation (and therefore
success) in standardized testing in both
NECAPs and SATs. The top high schools
for 2011 are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
East Greenwich High School
Narragansett High School
Exeter-West Greenwich High School
South Kingstown High School
Barrington High School
Changes from Last Year's
Rankings
GoLocalProv.com released the 1st Annual
ranking in May 2010. What are the major
changes in the rankings since last year?
Upward Mobility: Several schools
moved up in demonstrable
fashion from last year's ranking. Breaking into the Top 10 for 2011,
Warwick's Toll Gate High School moved up 13 spots, from a ranking
of 21st to 8th. In Lincoln, Davies Career
and Technical High School moved up 11
spots, from a 25th ranking a year ago,
with notable improvements across the
board, particularly NECAP scores. The
Met School moved up 8 spots from 40th
to 32nd, and Beacon Charter High
School for the Arts moved up 7 spots,
from 41st to 34th, again with strong
NECAP improvements.
Downward Mobility: Providence's
Classical High School, with its historic
legacy of great public education, maintained high scores across the chart, but
dropped from 6th place in 2010 to 10th
in 2011 largely because of improved
performance by other schools. Woonsocket High School also dropped 6 slots, from
37th in 2010 to 43rd in 2011.
How did GoLocalProv
come up with its Top High
Schools rankings?
Carefully. We gathered hundreds of
pieces of data related to school quality:
reading, math, and writing test scores
(both the New England Common
Assessment Program, or NECAP, scores,
as well as SATs), student-teacher ratios, spending per pupil, and graduation rates
for 51 public, charter, and technical schools in the state.
What followed was precise statistical analysis, guided by a methodology used in
similar rankings created elsewhere in New England. After collecting the
relevant data, we calculated the average values in each of the
categories and the degree to which each school either exceeded or
failed to reach those averages.
Those deviations from the average were
standardized so that different categories
could be compared meaningfully, and
then we used a weighting formula to
give certain categories more importance
than others. We wanted, for example, a
school’s student-teacher ratio to matter
more in our ranking than its Math SAT
scores – though test scores all together
account for 60% of the weighting.
Each school’s weighted numbers were
added into a single evaluative number,
which, when ordered from
highest to lowest, gave us
our ranking.
2
3
Narragansett High School
Exeter-West Greenwich
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Middletown High School
Lincoln Senior High School
Toll Gate High School
Westerly High School
Classical High School
Scituate High School
Portsmouth High School
Mt. Hope High School
Davies Career and Technical
Smithfield Senior High School
15
5
Barrington High School
High School
4
South Kingstown High School
Senior High School
1
Ranking
East Greenwich High School
At or Above Proficient
READING 2010-11
88%
86%
86%
91%
93%
98%
80%
90%
83%
84%
95%
85%
82%
90%
92%
At or Above Proficient
MATH 2010-11
43%
34%
39%
57%
47%
49%
41%
38%
49%
57%
73%
59%
67%
56%
68%
At or Above Proficient
WRITING 2010-11
62%
47%
74%
61%
62%
74%
56%
68%
62%
66%
74%
66%
69%
64%
80%
Student to Teacher
Ratio 2009-10
9.0
9.0
11.0
10.0
10.0
15.0
9.0
10.0
10.0
10.0
12.0
9.0
9.0
8.0
10.0
Spending per Student
(2008-2009, by district)
$13,285
$19,449
$17,202
$12,850
$12,667
$15,305
$16,222
$15,939
$15,238
$14,890
$12,379
$16,082
$16,778
$17,982
$14,086
4-Year Graduation Rates
(2010)
90.9%
77.3%
82.8%
85.6%
92.7%
97.1%
87.7%
83.2%
81.9%
82.7%
95.6%
85.8%
89.9%
90.1%
95.8%
Average Verbal
SAT Score (2010)
498
450
476
518
526
527
495
494
525
519
570
546
536
532
591
500
472
491
530
530
528
502
502
522
527
589
553
522
541
602
Average Math
SAT Score (2010)
Prov.com RI’s Top High Schools
491
437
473
518
517
515
484
503
520
503
563
535
530
525
597
Average Writing
SAT score (2010)
17
18
19
Chariho Regional High School
Ponaganset High School
North Kingstown Senior
21
22
23
24
25
Tiverton High School
Pilgrim High School
Coventry High School
Cranston High School West
Warwick Veterans Memorial
27
West Warwick
28
29
Burrillville High School
Johnston Senior High School
Senior High School
26
North Providence High School
High School
20
Rogers High School
High School
16
Ranking
North Smithfield High School
At or Above Proficient
READING 2010-11
73%
78%
81%
82%
73%
86%
88%
86%
85%
79%
87%
90%
86%
84%
At or Above Proficient
MATH 2010-11
32%
40%
30%
21%
25%
34%
37%
31%
39%
20%
48%
41%
45%
39%
At or Above Proficient
WRITING 2010-11
62%
52%
54%
63%
39%
56%
61%
53%
64%
46%
56%
53%
41%
74%
Student to Teacher
Ratio 2009-10
10.0
12.0
11.0
11.0
10.0
12.0
10.0
10.0
10.0
9.0
13.0
12.0
10.0
9.0
Spending per Student
(2008-2009, by district)
$15,860
$11,893
$15,711
$14,212
$15,939
$13,261
$13,104
$15,939
$14,175
$18,732
$13,700
$15,102
$15,783
$12,060
4-Year Graduation Rates
(2010)
61.8%
83.1%
66.2%
79.6%
72.7%
87.2%
80.9%
72.7%
77.7%
80.1%
86.1%
82.7%
83.4%
83.4%
Average Verbal
SAT Score (2010)
447
509
470
469
489
493
489
480
490
450
531
529
502
518
451
516
465
471
481
504
492
484
490
453
535
517
514
527
Average Math
SAT Score (2010)
Prov.com RI’s Top High Schools
448
494
470
463
480
491
482
475
486
451
524
520
500
510
Average Writing
SAT score (2010)
33
34
Cranston High School East
Beacon Charter High School
40
William E. Tolman
Senior High School
39
E-Cubed Academy
Technical Academy
Providence Career and
63%
66%
50%
Textron Chamber of Commerce 37
38
81%
36
Times 2 Academy
Academy
95%
35
73%
92%
76%
66%
East Providence High School
for the Arts
32
The Met School
the Performing and Visual Arts
93%
Jacqueline M. Walsh School for 31
Ranking
83%
At or Above Proficient
READING 2010-11
30
Cumberland High School
At or Above Proficient
MATH 2010-11
16%
4%
0%
10%
38%
26%
48%
21%
15%
37%
36%
At or Above Proficient
WRITING 2010-11
31%
56%
17%
52%
54%
37%
67%
48%
29%
63%
59%
Student to Teacher
Ratio 2009-10
11.0
12.0
11.0
N/A
15.0
12.0
12.0
11.0
14.0
10.0
13.0
Spending per Student
(2008-2009, by district)
$11,999
$15,305
$15,305
$14,920
$12,345
$13,991
$12,782
$13,261
$20,354
$11,999
$11,090
4-Year Graduation Rates
(2010)
56.7%
61.4%
58.3%
75.0%
93.9%
73.5%
60.3%
80.6%
81.9%
85.0%
83.2%
Average Verbal
SAT Score (2010)
438
373
N/A
366
443
467
467
488
440
441
520
442
368
N/A
370
426
477
412
477
440
451
514
Average Math
SAT Score (2010)
Prov.com RI’s Top High Schools
424
388
N/A
364
442
458
419
478
N/A
449
509
Average Writing
SAT score (2010)
42
Blackstone Academy
48
49
50
51
Central High School
Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School
Mount Pleasant High School
47
46
Shea Senior High School
Science Technology High School
William B. Cooley, Sr. Health &
High School
Hope Information Technology
High School
Central Falls Senior
45
44
Providence Academy of
International Studies
43
Woonsocket High School
Charter School
41
Ranking
Hope Arts School
At or Above Proficient
READING 2010-11
32%
34%
44%
54%
54%
43%
44%
52%
55%
74%
59%
At or Above Proficient
MATH 2010-11
2%
3%
4%
16%
3%
4%
8%
0%
15%
32%
4%
At or Above Proficient
WRITING 2010-11
19%
19%
33%
33%
39%
27%
23%
44%
23%
50%
39%
Student to Teacher
Ratio 2009-10
13.0
14.0
13.0
13.0
12.0
12.0
9.0
13.0
14.0
21.0
12.0
Spending per Student
(2008-2009, by district)
$15,305
$15,305
$15,305
$11,999
$15,305
$15,305
$14,347
$15,305
$12,362
$14,804
$15,305
4-Year Graduation Rates
(2010)
56.6%
66.7%
66.5%
57%
66.1%
70.9%
51.5%
68.9%
63.7%
87.8%
70.1%
Average Verbal
SAT Score (2010)
355
351
344
393
342
373
390
379
465
415
381
354
344
359
429
338
373
374
358
469
414
372
Average Math
SAT Score (2010)
Prov.com RI’s Top High Schools
345
348
341
393
337
361
383
370
453
407
351
Average Writing
SAT score (2010)