Woonsocket+High+School+2010



//At Woonsocket High School, our mission is to, "educate all students in a safe, supportive, challenging environment where they can learn to be citizens of a culturally diverse society."//

//Our motto "Striving for Excellence"//


 * Woonsocket High School **

Review by: David Caouette

Woonsocket, "A City on the Move", the same can also be said for its high school as well. With a new principal, new policies, and rising test scores Woonsocket High School is definitely on the move. Located at 777 Cass Avenue Woonsocket, RI, Woonsocket High School is part of the Woonsocket School District and has risen to No. 22 on the Rhode Island Monthly 2010 School Report Card. The new principal, Lynne Bedard of Coventry, RI has made big changes to the school this year in hopes of improving the school's environment and performance. These changes include pushing back the start of the school day to allow for more team planning for the teachers and a new school uniform policy that is intended to curb bullying and to divert student attention from fashion and popularity, back to their studies (www.woonsockethigh.org).
 * __ Introduction __**

As Rhode Island's 6th largest town, with a population of 43,492 (www.dlt.ri.gov), Woonsocket has been a central hub in the growth of northeastern Rhode Island and New England. Once the Industrial Revolution struck the country Woonsocket's location on the Blackstone River attracted big business and became one of the country's largest textile producers. It was at this time that Woonsocket became a town flooded with French Canadian immigrants, in order to fill the much needed work force. Today, Woonsocket has grown in such a way to attract a quite diverse population. Of the 43,492 residents of Woonsocket, 36,059 (82.9%) are white, 1,863 (4.3%) are African American, and 2,050 (4.7%) are Asian (www.census.gov). However, while these numbers conform with both Rhode Island and National norms the struggles of this culturally diverse city can be seen when the economic situation is analyzed. The median family income in Woonsocket ($50,138) is $20,000 less than the Rhode Island average and $13,000 less than the National average. This disparage leads to rather shocking data concerning the poverty rate in Woonsocket. The average percentage of families under the poverty line is 7.9% in RI and 9.6% in the US and the average percentage of individuals under the poverty line is 11.6% (RI) and 13.2% (US). However, Woonsocket's averages are much, much higher at 16.9% and 20.1% respectively. With a average family size of 3.15 (on average with both RI and US) this means 31.8% (up from 21% in 1990) of the 11,155 children living in Woonsocket in 2000 are also living under the poverty line.
 * __ Community Background __**media type="custom" key="7299423"

Woonsocket High School (WHS) is located in the Woonsocket School District. The district comprises of 12 schools, of which 8 are elementary schools, 2 are middle schools, 1 is a technical school where a student receives 2 degrees (one in a technical field and the other from the students home town high school), and finally there is Woonsocket High School. Woonsocket School District received about $72 million in 2009. Of this $14.2m came from local tax monies, $48m from state, and $9.8m from federal funds. Of the 50 school districts in Rhode Island, Woonsocket ranks 41st in per-pupil expenditures with $12,235 per-pupil, $2,227 less than the state average. The district holds 6248 students and 557 teachers. 1.6% of the students attend public charter schools, 88.5% regular public schools, 1% are home schooled, and 8.9% attend non-public schools. While on the outside Woonsocket's district may seem to be on par with the rest of the state, there are some disturbing disparities that arise when one looks a bit more into the reports on the school (RI Infoworks).
 * __ District Summary __**

Many of these disparities show themselves when looking at the student and teacher indicators provided by Infoworks. What I believe are the most discouraging facts about WHS are their graduation and dropout rates. If a high school education is the most important measure of success and largest provider of hope to an individual's future, then WHS is in need of improvement. In 2008 WHS had a 60.7% graduation rate (13% below the RI average) and WHS had a 27.6% dropout rate (almost double the 15.5% RI rate), coming in second only to the three Hope schools. With numbers like these how can students hope to succeed when those before them have failed. Student suspension rates are also grossly above RI norms sometimes being as much as 100 cases over the average case rate per 100 students. In high school WHS averages 124.8 cases per 100 students (compared to the 53.1 RI average) and in the middle schools it is much worse, 152.8 compared to the 41.2 RI norm. With numbers like these it is no wonder that WHS is not attracting any of the state's new teachers. WHS only has 17% of its teachers as new teachers (in the school for less than 3 years) while the average for the state hovers around 30% of teachers being new to a school (RI Infoworks). Without new blood in the school is there any hope for improving the current situations? Can WHS possibly succeed with such low student rates? After looking at the schools test scores I say yes! Remarkably WHS has improved or remained stable on all of their test scores. While RI is notoriously poor on its SAT math scores, Woonsocket has improved their students proficiency in math by 5% in the last 3 years (from 11-16%), while remaining even on the reading proficiency (51-50%), and has shown good improvement on writing proficiency, 22-30%, just in the last year (RI Infoworks). This suggests that while the school has larger dropout rates than the norm, the students that remain at WHS are showing the signs of improvement. What more, the schools new principal, Lynne Bedard, who took over at the beginning of the school year, is ready to make major changes, and she already has. Starting on September 1, 2010 WHS became the first public school in the state to mandate school uniforms. Now students can only wear black or khaki pants, along with shirts that are school colors (maroon or gray) and contain no writing, with the exception of school logos. While the RI ACLU is bringing this to court on the basis of restriction of freedom of speech, Bedard has strong feelings the judge will allow her policies to prevail after several other public schools across the country have started a successful precedent with a uniform policy (WPRI 12). Bedard hopes that the uniforms will allow students to refocus on their studies and stop harassment that occurs between the students on the basis of what they look like (the Valley Breeze, 9/15/2010). Bedard addresses another problem brought up by the teachers in moving the school day start time back to 8:00AM. Because 75% of teachers have complained about inadequate planning time (RI Infoworks), Bedard has moved the school day start time back half an hour, to allow for more breakfast time for students and to allow teachers more peer meeting/planning time (The Valley Breeze). With these changes and the good outlook on the improving test scores WHS is slowly but surely gaining ground and moving in the direction it needs to in order to become a competing Rhode Island school.
 * __ School Analysis __**

While Woonsocket High School is still struggling with dropout rates and below average test scores, its performance over the last few years is showing promise. Lynne Bedard was the former director of the Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center (the Woonsocket vocational school) and she has done wonders to make that school a leading tech prep school (The Valley Breeze). Now she is coming to WHS with a full steam ahead approach and an attitude that says she is not afraid of trying new things and disappointing a few people, as long as it is better for the students. It is true that Woonsocket is a high poverty area and they will struggle with this until it becomes once more the economic center it used to be. It is important to realize that WHS does fall below state and national averages in almost every aspect but that gap is closing fast. If WHS can perform this well given the economical status of its citizens, then with proper planning and effort, I have no doubts they are capable of much more. As it is, the high dropout rates are most likely caused by the worst students. If WHS can make this number smaller then significant increases in the grade averages will be seen. I do not believe that the underperformance in WHS is a result of bad teachers or lazy students, but rather poor planning and over distraction in the school itself. If Bedard's plan to curb these distractions by making everyone the same is realized I think the school will start to show even better improvement. With these policy changes now in place and rising test scores, WHS is in perfect position to improve not only its performance, but also the student quality of education.
 * __ Conclusion __**


 * __ References __**

Information Works! (2009). //Using Information: District Demographics and Indicators.// Retrieved October 14, 2010, Information Works! Website: [|http://www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu] [| /2009/pdf/ds- usinginfo/39d-info.pdf]

Information Works! (2009). //Safe and Supportive Schools: Incidents of Suspension.// Retrieved October 20, 2010. Information Works! Website: []

Information Works! (2009). //Recruiting and Supporting Teachers.// Retrieved October 18, 2010. Information Works! Website: [] Information Works! (2009). //Graduation Rates.// Retrieved October 4, 2010. Information Works! Website: []

Information Works! (2009). //Learning and Achievements: Assessments (Harris School)//. Retrieved October 4, 2010. Information Works! Website: []

Information Works! (2009). //Learning and Achievements: Assessments (Woonsocket Middle School)//. Retrieved October 4, 2010. Information Works! Website: []

Information Works! (2009). //Learning and Achievements: Assessments (WHS)//. Retrieved October 4, 2010. Information Works! Website: []

McCabe, Brenna. "WHS Principal Bedard new on the block, but not in the Neighborhood". //The Valley Breeze.// Published 9/13/2010. Retrieved October 10, 2010. []

WPRI 12,(8/19/2010) "ACLU Opposes Woonsocket Uniform Policy." Retrieved October 19, 2010 from WPRI 12 Eyewitness News website: [|http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/blackstone/woonsocket-aclu-opposes- woonsocket-uniform-policy]

Woonsocket High School (2010). Retrieved October 3, 2010. Woonsocket High School Website: www.woonsockethighschool.org