Mount+Hope+High+School+Fall+2013



Mount Hope High School 199 Chestnut Street Bristol, R.I., 02805



Introduction

Mount Hope High School, established in 1993 with the merging of Warren and Bristol High School, is one of the most consistent high schools in the state. The school takes students from both the town on Warren and Bristol, which forms a district of 6 schools, 4 elementary, 1 middle school and 1 high school. The school is led by Mr. Donald Rebello, and house a staff of over 35 teachers. With a student population of 1,123, that gives Mount Hope High School and student/teacher ratio of 1:11, which is above Barrington High School’s average, and on par with the state. The school consistently scores higher than the state average on the statewide NECAP exams and nationwide SAT exams. Mount Hope offers SAT courses for any of the tests offered by The College Board. The school utilizes a digital portfolio, an online proficiency system which evaluations a student’s work over their entire high school career and climaxes in a final project during their senior year. The school also produces a five-minute morning show, called HNN, the “Husky News Network,” which delivers the morning announcements to the students in an entertaining style. The school boasts a fairly high graduation rate of 84%.

The purpose of this presentation is to inform incoming families of the benefits and consequences of integrating into the Bristol/Warren regional school system. This document is designed to be thorough as well as fair to the facts.

Community Background Mount Hope High School comes from a middle class economic background. The median household income of Bristol is $64,405, and Warren is $53,284. These numbers are both over the national average, but both can be considered middle class. The percentage of families below the poverty line is 5.6% in Bristol, and 6.0% in Warren. These are both 4% below the national average. While the state has a higher-than-average median family income, but the median non-family income for Bristol is $29,388, and for Warren it is $28,546. These numbers are below both the state average and the national average (at $32,237 and $31,749 respectively.) Out of all the government workers employed in the town, 27% (Bristol)/25% (Warren) of them are employed as educational workers. These numbers are both above the national average of 21%.
 * || ** Bristol ** || ** Warren ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** US ** ||
 * ** Median household income ** || ** $64,405 ** || ** $53,284 ** || ** $55,975 ** || ** $52,762 ** ||
 * ** Median family income ** || ** $85,316 ** || ** $71,559 ** || ** $72,724 ** || ** $64,293 ** ||
 * ** Per capita income ** || ** $31,460 ** || ** $30,994 ** || ** $29,685 ** || ** $64,293 ** ||
 * ** All families below the poverty level ** || ** 5.6% ** || ** 6.0% ** || ** 8.9% ** || ** 10.5% ** ||
 * ** All people below the poverty level ** || ** 9.4% ** || ** 9.7% ** || ** 12.8% ** || ** 14.3% ** ||

Bristol and Warren compare fairly well against Rhode Island as a whole. Warren is slightly less-well-off on average compared to the state. However, Bristol's median family income is significantly wealthier than the state as a whole, and that is reflected in the wealth of Mount Hope as a whole.
 * || ** Bristol ** || ** Warren ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** US ** ||
 * ** White ** || ** 96.3% ** || ** 96.0% ** || ** 81.4% ** || ** 72.4% ** ||
 * ** African American ** || ** 0.8% ** || ** 1.2% ** || ** 5.7% ** || ** 12.6% ** ||
 * ** Asian ** || ** 0.9% ** || ** 0.6% ** || ** 2.9% ** || ** 4.8% ** ||
 * ** Hispanic/Latino ** || ** 2.0% ** || ** 1.8% ** || ** 12.4% ** || ** 16.3% ** ||
 * ** American Indian/Alaskan Native ** || ** 0.7% ** || ** 0.8% ** || ** 0.4% ** || ** 0.7% ** ||

The community is very monotone in terms of race. About 96% of the community is white (for both Bristol and Warren.) Latinos make up the next big chunk of the population, with a massive 2% for Bristol and 1.8% for Warren. There are equally small numbers for African Americans, Asians, and American Indian/Alaskan Natives. Compared to state averages, Bristol and Warren are missing a good chunk of their Latino and African american population from their community.
 * || ** Bristol ** || ** Warren ** || ** Rhode Island ** ||
 * ** Child Population ** || ** 3,623 ** || ** 2,452 ** || ** 223,956 ** ||
 * ** Children in single-parent families ** || ** 21% ** || ** 32% ** || ** 31% ** ||
 * ** Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold ** || ** 6.5% ** || ** 9.2% ** || ** 17.9% ** ||
 * ** Households with grandparents financially responsible for grandchildren ** || ** 6% ** || ** 7% ** || ** 6% ** ||

There are 3,623 children living in Bristol, and 2,452 living in Warren. Out of then all, about 21%/32% (Bristol/Warren) are living in single parent families. There is 6.5%/9.2% (Bristol/Warren) of children living in households below the poverty line. These numbers are about 10% below the statewide average. There is 6%/7% (Bristol/Warren) of children living in households where the grandparents are financially responsible for the well-being on the child. Bristol and Warren are lucky in the fact their poverty threshold average is about one-half of the statewide average. However, our ethnic background may be contributing to this statistic.
 * || ** Bristol ** || ** Warren ** || ** Rhode Island ** ||
 * ** Children in families receiving cash assistance ** || ** 1% ** || ** 3% ** || ** 5% ** ||
 * ** School breakfast program participation ** || ** 10% ** || ** 10% ** || ** 35% ** ||

Despite the percentage of children in families below the poverty line, only 1%/3% of those families is receiving cash assistance. About 10%/10% of children attending schools in this district are using the School Breakfast Program. The lack of poverty in our community once again shines through, with our district showing a very low school breakfast participation.
 * || ** Bristol ** || ** Warren ** || ** Rhode Island ** ||
 * ** Early Intervention participation ** || ** 15% ** || ** 14% ** || ** 12% ** ||
 * ** Chronic early absence in grades K-3 ** || ** 8% ** || ** 8% ** || ** 11% ** ||
 * ** Suspension rate ** || ** 17% ** || ** 17% ** || ** 30% ** ||
 * ** High School graduation rate ** || ** 85% ** || ** 85% ** || ** 77% ** ||

Attendance in Bristol and Warren is fairly consistent. Chronic absences in K-3 are 8%, while the high school attendance rate is 92%. However, out of all these absentees, 14% percent of those students were absent 12-17 days, while 24% of them were absent for more than 18 days. These rates are both above the statewide average. The high school graduation rate is 85%, which is 8% above the statewide average.

While the school maintains an appearance of sounds management, there are some areas that raise questions. For one, the town’s dependence on educational jobs is higher than the national average. Also, the non-family income average is much lower than the national average. One can conclude from this data that the town’s focus on education creates an environment for families to succeed in while excluding unmarried people from one of the town’s primary forms of income.

District Summary

The school district is scoring consistently above the statewide average. In every single assessment, at every grade level, Bristol/Warren is either slightly or significantly higher than the statewide average.


 * ** Qualifications and Teacher-student Ratio ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** Bristol/Warren ** || ** Barrington ** || ** Central Falls ** ||
 * ** Teachers with Emergency Certification ** || ** 1% ** || ** 1% ** || ** 0% ** || ** 2% ** ||
 * ** Not Highly Qualified Teachers ** || ** 3% ** || ** 1% ** || ** 0% ** || ** 4% ** ||
 * ** Teacher-Student Ratio ** || ** 1:11 ** || ** 1:11 ** || ** 1:12 ** || ** 1:9 ** ||

The district’s teaching staff is only 1% emergency certified. Emergency certification refers to teachers who are not qualified to teach in the district, but have been granted certification by the superintendent of schools, because there are no qualified teachers available. The total student/teacher ratio for the district is 1:11, which is on par with the statewide average. Bristol/Warren boasts a very low ratio for under qualified teacher. Mt. Hope's staff features a collection of long-lasting appreciated teachers, and when the district chooses to hire a new teacher, they have a good pool of candidates coming from local colleges, whether it be URI or Roger Williams University.

|| ** 27% ** || ** 6% ** || ** 49% ** ||
 * ** Attendence ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** State Target ** || ** Bristol/Warren ** || ** Barrington ** || ** Central Falls ** ||
 * ** Attendence Rate (Elementary) ** || ** 95% ** || ** 90% ** || ** 96% ** || ** 97% ** || ** 94% ** ||
 * ** *(Middle School) ** || ** 94% ** || ** 90% ** || ** 95% ** || ** 97% ** || ** 93% ** ||
 * ** *(High School) ** || ** 91% ** || ** 90% ** || ** 91% ** || ** 96% ** || ** 82% ** ||
 * ** *(All Schools) ** || ** 94% ** || ** 90% ** || ** 94% ** || ** 96% ** || ** 90% ** ||
 * ** Chronic Absenteeism ** || ** 17% ** ||



The district’s attendance rate is generally high, around 95% at all grade levels. However, the district does have a very high rate of chronic absenteeism, at 27%. This is 10% above the statewide average (though, it is 20% below Central Falls’ average of 49 %.) General attendence rate in the Bristol/Warren school district appears to be healthy, with all numbers reaching or exceeding the state target value. Bristol/Warren not only maintains a small class size, it also has a large number of locals school for students to travel to. The size of the district also allows teachers and advisers to have an active role in their student's life.

The district holds a fine 86% graduation rate, which is 9% above the statewide average. 7.9% of the students that do not graduate are recycled back into the school program. Only 1.4% of the students who do not graduate are given a GED, which is only half the statewide average.
 * ** Four-Year Graduation Rate ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** Bristol/Warren ** || ** Barrington ** || ** Central Falls ** ||
 * ** In 2012 ** || ** 77.1% ** || ** 86.0% ** || ** 94.6% ** || ** 69.6% ** ||
 * ** Dropped out ** || ** 11.9% ** || ** 4.7% ** || ** 0.7% ** || ** 13.8% ** ||
 * ** Received GED ** || ** 3.2% ** || ** 1.4% ** || ** 0.7% ** || ** 0.0% ** ||
 * ** Still in School ** || ** 7.8% ** || ** 7.9% ** || ** 4.0% ** || ** 16.6% ** ||
 * ** Five-Year Graduation Rate ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** In 2011 ** || ** 77.4% ** || ** 88.1% ** || ** 96.6% ** || ** 70.8% ** ||
 * ** In 2012 ** || ** 3.4% ** || ** 3.8% ** || ** 2.4% ** || ** 7.8% ** ||
 * ** Percent Graduated in Five Years ** || ** 80.8% ** || ** 91.9% ** || ** 99% ** || ** 78.6% ** ||

Out of the students who return to school for a 5th year, 91.9% of these students graduate.

Mt. Hope's graduation rate, considering all other factors, seems a bit unsettled. However, while they have a significantly higher drop-out rate than Barrington High, they also have a very high (above state average) rate of return students, even though their drop-out percentage is much lower than the state average.


 * ** Incidents of Suspension ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** Bristol/Warren ** || ** Barrington ** || ** Central Falls ** ||
 * ** Number of Incidents (Elementary) ** || ** 2,916 ** || ** 78 ** || ** 0 ** || ** 13 ** ||
 * ** *(Middle School) ** || ** 13,780 ** || ** 126 ** || ** 18 ** || ** 33 ** ||
 * ** *(High School) ** || ** 24,845 ** || ** 395 ** || ** 110 ** || ** 719 ** ||

There are 78 incidents of elementary students in the district are suspended each year. This is much, much higher than other school in the state, Central Falls boasting only 13 suspensions per year. The same goes for middle school suspension, there being 126 incidents of suspension per year. While there were only 33 incidents in Central Falls’ middle schools. However, once you reach high school, the suspension rate returns somewhat to normal, Bristol/Warren showing 395 incidents, while Centrals Falls showed 719 incidents.

Bristol/Warren has the unique feature of two towns supporting one school. Therefore, as seen above, the amount of money Bristol/Warren can spend on each student is significantly higher than its wealthy neighbor town, Barrington, who had, until now, trumped Mount Hope in every aspect. This allows Bristol/Warren to stand on the same educational level as Barrington High School, regardless of relative reputation or wealth.
 * ** Property Value per Student v.s. Tax Rate on Owner-Occupied Property ** || ** Property Value per Student ** || ** Per pupil expenditure ** || ** Median Family income ** ||
 * ** Bristol/Warren ** || ** $1,297,546 ** || ** $17,202 ** || ** $53,740 ** ||
 * ** Barrington ** || ** $894,098 ** || ** $12,379 ** || ** $14,347 ** ||
 * ** Central Falls ** || ** $196,417.72 ** || ** $8,465 ** || ** $26,844 ** ||



The Bristol/Warren school district also boasts one of the largest property values per student in the state: $1,297,546. Barrington, one of the wealthiest towns in the state, only has an average of $894,098 per student. There are several factors that could contribute to this, including private property in Bristol, Roger Williams University, and the property of Colt State Park.

In all, Bristol and Warren create a fairly suitable environment for their school. Though high school attendance is a little low in Mount Hope particularly, this does not detract from their overall regional and national standardized testing scores. In addition, the schools shows particular initiative to make sure even their less faithful students graduate, with a comparatively high 5-year graduation rate, as shown below.

School Analysis


 * ** NECAP Assessments ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** Mt. Hope High School ** || ** Barrington High School ** || ** Central Falls High School ** ||
 * ** 11th Grade Math ** || ** 34% ** || ** 48% ** || ** 70% ** || ** 2% ** ||
 * ** 11th Grade Reading ** || ** 79% ** || ** 90% ** || ** 94% ** || ** 46% ** ||
 * ** 11th Grade Writing ** || ** 50% ** || ** 71% ** || ** 62% ** || ** 35% ** ||
 * ** 11th Grade Science ** || ** 32% ** || ** 42% ** || ** 68% ** || ** 3% ** ||


 * ** SAT Exams (Averages) ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** Mt. Hope High School ** || ** Barrington High School ** || ** Central Falls High School ** ||
 * ** Mathematics ** || ** 480 ** || ** 502 ** || ** 588 ** || ** 379 ** ||
 * ** Reading ** || ** 477 ** || ** 486 ** || ** 573 ** || ** 369 ** ||
 * ** Writing ** || ** 470 ** || ** 475 ** || ** 559 ** || ** 376 ** ||


 * ** AP Exams ** || ** Rhode Island ** || ** Mt. Hope High School ** || ** Barrington High School ** || ** Central Falls High School ** ||
 * ** Number of Exams taken ** || ** 5,709 ** || ** 160 ** || ** 561 ** || ** 67 ** ||
 * ** Number of Students to Take Exam ** || ** 3,456 ** || ** 99 ** || ** 279 ** || ** 57 ** ||
 * ** Exams Scored at College-Level Mastery ** || ** 3,264 ** || ** 59 ** || ** 479 ** || ** 3 ** ||
 * ** % Scored at College-Level-Mastery ** || ** 57% ** || ** 37% ** || ** 85% ** || ** 4% ** ||

Mount Hope High School sees fairly high grades from all of their students. As stated in the previous section, the school’s average is above the statewide scores. They even averaged higher than Barrington High School (who averages much higher than the state in all subjects) in NECAP Writing. Though the gap is not as large (at most, around 20 points per section) Mt. Hope also scores higher on average on the SAT exams. Out of the school’s 1,123 students, about 160 of them participated in an AP exam, with an average college-proficiency rate of 37%. This rate is below both the state’s (57%) and Barrington High School’s (85%) average proficiency rates. This is an interesting point, considering Mt. Hope’s general academic proficiency in statewide exams. 35% of the school’s population is eligible for subsidized lunch. This is 11% below the statewide average. Only 3% of the student body is receiving Bilingual education services. The state average is 6%. The school has a low percentage of special education students in the student body (7%) as compared to the statewide average (15%).

Conclusion

Mount Hope High School is, for certain, one of the more privileged school districts in the state. While they have a lot of success in their statewide exams, the district still fails to see success as much success in the nationwide exams. Due to this, students seem to be filtered into a cycle of families using the school system. Once graduated, students can either try to find success outside of the state, or, more easily, marry and make their way into the economic stability of the middle class in the local area. Regardless, the school boasts a healthy arts program, and an active athletic program. In all,this school has unique regional qualities, and while some information speaks of the economic waste produced by the district (i.e. almost double the property value per student yet falls short in almost every standardized test), Bristol/Warren none-the-less boasts a high graduation rate, a dedication to making sure their students graduate, and a healthy extracurricular program.

Rhode Island Department of Primary and Secondary Education. (2013). Rhode Island Education Data Reporting. In Infoworks!. Retrieved 10/7/2013, from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/.

U.S. Census, accessed 10/14/2013, from http://www.census.gov/

R.I. Kids Count, Retrieved 10/14/2013, from http://www.rikidscount.org/matriarch/default.asp