Methodology: The Most and Least Diverse High Schools in RI

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

GoLocalProv News Team

To compile its ranking of Rhode Island's most diverse high schools, GoLocal utilized data submitted by each school to the Institute for Education Science's National Center for Education Statistics and the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Read About The 50 Most Diverse High Schools in Rhode Island Here

This data includes a total enrollment figure and numbers of students in each of 6 racial categories:

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American Indian/Alaskan
Asian/Pacific Islander
Black
Hispanic
Two or more races
White

GoLocal researchers used these numbers to compute percentages of the student body in each category. From there, to assess a school's overall racial balance, GoLocal looked at how far from a "perfect balance" of equal representation in each category each school fell. The numerical distance--either above or below--was calculated for each school in each category, and then summed. The lowest sums indicated those schools closest to balance across all six categories.

Those sums, from lowest to highest, yielded GoLocal's rankings.

GoLocal acknowledges that nearly every public school represents the diversity of its community; this ranking does not seek to correlate that factor. This is a statistical look at how each and every public and charter school's composition represents a true (or far from true) racial diversity.

Related Slideshow: The Most and Least Diverse High Schools in Rhode Island

The data below reflects the 2012-13 academic year as provided by the Rhode Island Dept of Education. Values have been rounded to the nearest whole percent.

Methodology: The Most and Least Diverse High Schools in RI

Related Slideshow: The Most and Least Diverse High Schools in Rhode Island

#49 Ponaganset HS

North Scituate, RI

#48 Scituate HS

Scituate, RI

#47 Tiverton HS

Tiverton, RI

#46 Coventry HS

Coventry, RI

#45 Burrillville HS

Burrillville, RI

#44 Exeter-West Greenwich

West Greenwich, RI

#43 Chariho Regional HS

Wood River Junction, RI

#42 North Kingstown HS

North Kingstown, RI

#41 Mt. Hope HS

Bristol, RI

#40 Narragansett HS

Narragansett, RI

#39 Barrington HS

Barrington, RI

#38 Smithfield Senior HS

Smithfield, RI

Total enrollment: 772

#37 Portsmouth HS

Portsmouth, RI

#36 Lincoln Senior HS

Lincoln, RI

Total enrollment: 1,067

#35 North Smithfield HS

North Smithfield, RI

#34 Warwick Vets HS

Warwick Veterans Memorial HS, Warwick RI

#33 Toll Gate HS

Warwick, RI

#32 Pilgrim HS

Warwick, RI

#31 South Kingstown HS

South Kingstown, RI

#30 Cranston HS West

Cranston, RI

#29 East Greenwich HS

East Greenwich, RI

#28 Westerly HS

Westerly, RI

#27 Cumberland HS

Cumberland, RI

#26 West Warwick HS

West Warwick Senior HS, West Warwick, RI

Total enrollment: 982

#25 Johnston Senior HS

Johnston, RI

#24 Beacon Charter HS

Beacon Charter High School For The Arts, Woonsocket, RI

Total enrollment: 230

#23 Middletown HS

Middletown, RI

#22 East Providence HS

East Providence, RI

#21 Acad. for Career Exp.

Academy for Career Exploration, Providence, RI

#20 Central Falls HS

Central Falls, RI

Total enrollment: 838

#19 Cooley Health/Science

Cooley Health & Science Technology Academy, Providence, RI

#18 North Providence HS

North Providence, RI

#17 Times 2 Academy

Providence, RI

Total enrollment: 652

#16 Central HS

Providence, RI

#15 Mt. Pleasant HS

Providence, RI

#14 Prov. Career & Tech

Providence Career & Technical Academy, Providence, RI