CHART: RI’s High Schools 2012, From #1 to #51
Monday, May 14, 2012
From #1 East Greenwich High School to #51 Mount Pleasant High School, you'll find every public, charter, and technical high school in Rhode Island*. Where does your school fall?
*Block Island School's high school population is too small to be statistically analyzed fairly, which is why they are removed from the rankings.
For a printable version of RI's Top High Schools 2012, with the full chart of rankings and summaries of key articles, Download PDF
Related Articles
- The Top High Schools in Rhode Island 2012
- College Admissions: Why High School Rankings Matter to Colleges
- How We Got the Rankings: RI’s Top High Schools 2012
- RI’s #1 School 2012: East Greenwich High School
- RI’s #2 School 2012: Narragansett High School
- RI’s #3 School 2012: Exeter-West Greenwich Senior High School
- RI’s #4 School 2012: South Kingstown High School
- RI’s #5 School 2012: Barrington High School
- RI’s #6 School 2012: Chariho Regional High School
- RI’s #7 School 2012: Westerly High School
- RI’s #8 School 2012: Portsmouth High School
- RI’s #9 School 2012: Scituate High School
- RI’s #10 School 2012: Classical High School
- The Link Between Schools and Home Values: RI’s Top High Schools 2012
- Providence High Schools at the Bottom: RI’s Top High Schools 2012
- Who Moved Up, Who Moved Down: RI’s Top High Schools 2012
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Comments:
Drew Genetti
9:22am on Monday, May 14, 2012
Who determined these statistics of how you would decided the top schools? Certainly not the tax payers of this state. For years now especially on this website I have read of complaints about how much SPENDING is happening in the schools and complaining about teachers high salaries and pensions... So what does this website do, it bases the highest weight on the two most unrelated to results statistics it could pull, per-pupal spending and Student to Teacher Ratios. So basically what you are saying is if a school can produce the top results but does not spend the most they should be put lower in your rankings? Wouldnt most say they are doing a better job, if I can get better results out of my company while spending less I am a better buisness person. Wouldnt you all agree?
Take a good look at Barrington's numbers. They score in the top 2 or in 1 case 3 in every statistical catagory except 2 School Spending and Student to Teacher Ratio, and yet they are ranked fifth. The most important statistic should be graduation rates, thats what we all want from our students right, to graduate and be prepared for the next level. Then NECAP should be looked at because its a test that every student in the school takes, the SAT's is not taken by every student just those that are college bound, and even some of them take the ACT instead as many have said its an easier test. This rankings places far to much weight on the idea of spending, who of us out there wants our town to spend more? pay more taxes? pay more in tax rate? Its almost laughable while looking at Barrington's numbers that they aren't in the top 2/3 in these rankings. Amongst the TOP 10 Barrington Ranks the following In Grad and NECAP Math 1st, in all the SATs 2nd, and the remaining NECAPs (reading and writing) 3rd. In per pupal spending and teacher ratio they are last.
Narragansett is second by your rankings and they scored worse then Barrington in every statistical catagory besides NECAP reading (which they beat barrington by 1 percentage point) and yet they spent 5500 more per student. In terms of Barrington which has a HS population of close to 1,200 students that would be an increased school budget of $660,000, do you know what that would demand of its tax base? Thats an average of $110 a home tax increase (using census 2010 data of roughly 6,000 homes). And thats just looking at the HS numbers not trickling down through all the other schools and all the other students. Granted in Narragansett they have a much smaller student population so the number in total isnt as large but the affect on the tax per home is likely similar. So Narragansett by solely costing its tax payers (most of which dont have students in HS) more money gets a 2nd place ranking by your rankings for the second year in a row while Barrington who has been fiscally responsible to its tax payers while producing great numbers comes in 5th. There are several other schools in these rankings that have slighted numbers but I am mearly using Barrington as an example to show how skewed your rankings are.
How do others feel about this?
Eazy Muthfine
11:02am on Monday, May 14, 2012
Look at these numbers.
What's up with the Blackstone Academy Charter School?
How can 32% be at or above proficiency in Math and yet the school has an average math SAT score of 383 (one of the worst in the list).
No other school with an average math SAT score in the 300s even had double digit percentages at or above proficiency in math.
Either this was a typo, or there's something seriously wrong here.
Michael Furtado
11:26am on Monday, May 14, 2012
Hello, Drew. Please don't take this personally, but where did you learn to write?
In a comment about an article about high school rankings, your post includes several valid points but is so riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors that it is almost funny. You apparently never were taught the correct use of the apostrophe, since you use it where it is inappropriate (pluralizing words) and fail to use it where it is necessary, as in possessives and contractions.
I don't mean to single you out, since this is a common problem in the past few years (especially in posts to online sources). It just seems so particularly ironic when this post is made regarding the effectiveness of local public high schools.
With regard to the substance of your post, I agree that the methodology used for these rankings is very flawed. Among other things, the per-pupil spending is given far too much weight at 15%, as are the SAT scores. As you stated, not everyone takes the SAT for several reasons. Graduation rate, on the other hand, is downplayed as only one of several equally ranked factors, but it may be one of the most important factors in determining the effectiveness of a high school program.
Trying to “rank” schools is inherently difficult because there are so many factors that play into any school's effectiveness and many are difficult to measure. The involvement of parents is such a key factor, but how can it be measured accurately and fairly? Individual teachers can be very good at motivating students, or not good at all. How much they are paid may be a small factor in this but it certainly does not measure it adequately.
In the final analysis, any ranking of schools will reflect the biases and preconceptions of those who designed the method of determining the rankings. Weighting per pupil spending greater than graduation rate, for example, will tend to ensure that the “richer” schools will have an edge over other schools. Giving equal weight to NECAP and SAT scores may be appropriate, but I'm not sure if the both sets of tests are either equally accurate or equally considered by college admissions boards (if that is an important matter to the rankings).
IMHO, any individual student can achieve success in life after attending any given high school if they are motivated, properly supported by their parent(s) and school staff and are able to focus on their studies adequately without distractions such as neighborhood violence, adequate food and shelter or unrealistic parental expectations.
Bob Washburn
5:04pm on Monday, May 14, 2012
Check the math scores. Only Barrington and East Greenwich students scored above 54 percent! Now go to Massachusetts schools and see that most non urban schools score at the EG and Barrington levels.
Until RI schools score in the 70s in math, the state is doomed to sit at the back of the class vs MA and CT.
tom brady
6:06pm on Monday, May 14, 2012
Hey Mike,
Do not take this personally, but you are a loser. How many times did you proof read your piece? Seriously, get a life.
Michael Furtado
10:32pm on Monday, May 14, 2012
Hey Tom, pointless comments are easy to ignore. Did you have anything intelligent to post regarding my comments, or did you just feel like venting?
BTW, I correct my posts as I write. No 'proof reading' needed.
barnaby morse
6:32am on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Nice to see that Gallo's slash & burn tactics of 2 yrs ago to fire all the HS teachers, replace them w/newbies, treating the staff like crap, paying for overpriced consultants, favoring charters, etc, has really paid off for the students. They're still at the bottom of the list. Now whose fault is it?
Domenic Merolla
9:39am on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Can someone PLEASE explain to me why this rankings list rewards spending WAY more to get MUCH worse results??? Just look at the top schools! Schools with SAT and NECAP scores considerably lower than Barrington and East Greenwich spend exorbitant amounts per student only to get bad results. Why isn't high return on investment lauded!?
Also, I understand that one of America's new past times is trolling the internet- but Michael Furtado, come on. Every single point you made in your comment was instantly rendered invalid and unreadable because I have literally never been in the same hemisphere as a bigger douche bag. Keep trolling my evidently spectacularly amazing and sophisticated friend. Clearly you are well educated because isn't the first thing you learn in school to argue with someone based on superficial personal mistakes rather than facts? Yes it is! Go you.
Michael Furtado
11:36am on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Dominic Merolla: Really – you have “never been in the same hemisphere as a bigger douche bag”? And you make this statement in the same paragraph in which you state “the first thing you learn in school to argue with someone based on superficial personal mistakes rather than facts.” Have you ever heard of the concept of 'projection' in psychology?
The first five sentences of my sixteen sentence post relate to the grammar and spelling of the initial poster. I also make the point in my post that I wouldn't have even made those observations but for the fact that it was the very first posted comment regarding an article about the state of education in this state. DO YOU GET THE IRONY?????
As with Mr. “Tom Brady” earlier – do you have any response or comment about the substance of my post, or are you just offended by someone actually taking the time to point out the 600-lb. gorilla in the virtual room of the internet? Will throwing more money at schools or achieving higher graduation rates or testing scores actually result in better-educated young adults if the society into which they graduate ignores, tolerates or even encourages such sloppy writing?
Perhaps you, Mr. Brady and the others who focus on my constructive comments should get your heads out of your nether regions and address the problems presented by the article and the substantive majority of my comment.