PROVIDENCE – Today at the Hope High School complex, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri released the high school classifications based on tests administered in the spring.
The results showed that more than 57 percent of the high schools in the state are classified as high performing and 68 percent met all of their annual targets set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
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But nearly 40 percent of the high schools were classified as making “insufficient progress,” meaning that they had missed multiple targets or had missed targets for consecutive years.
Not meeting the targets for the first year are Chariho, Cranston, Foster-Glocester, Glocester, Middletown, Newport, North Providence and Westerly. Those schools will be put on watch status by the state.
Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, South Kingstown, West Warwick and Woonsocket missed their targets more than once and are subject to state intervention. East Providence had been in intervention status but has now met its targets and has been removed from that list.
Carcieri said he was proud of the results in many schools, and made specific mention ofthe Hope Leadership School, which was honored for meeting all of its targets. But he added that much more needs to be done.
“I am pleased that so many of our schools – including more than half of our high schools – have made all of their annual targets,” the governor said in a statement. “Though a third of our high schools are high-performing, too many are making insufficient progress, largely because they have missed targets in mathematics. I believe that by continuing to focus on mathematics and science education, we can improve student performance at all grade levels.”
In math Alternative Learning Project, Central High School, E-Cubed Academy, Feinstein High School, Hope Information Technology School, Mount Pleasant High School and Providence Academy all scored below 10 percent proficiency.
Though statewide, the test results were largely unchanged from last year’s – proficiency in mathematics was achieved by 42.8 percent, down 2.3 percentage points from 2005, and English proficiency was achieved by 54 percent, up 1.8 points from 2005 – the contrast between the urban schools and the suburban schools remained sharp.
On average, only 36.8 percent of students in urban schools were proficient in English language arts, and 23.5 percent in math, while 60.7 of suburban students were proficient in English language arts and 49.8 percent in math.
“The results released today once again show that there are two Rhode Islands – an urban core where many of our schools are struggling and a suburban ring where most schools are performing well,” Peter McWalters, the state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, said in a news release.
“Almost all of the schools that have missed multiple targets are from our cities, and proficiency rates in the cities are about 20 points below the state average. To improve our statewide performance, we must continue to focus on our urban schools.”
