Exeter-West+Greenwich+High+School+Fall+2015

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Chris Bender & Johnny Sok Exeter-West Greenwich Senior High School 930 Nooseneck Hill Road West Greenwich, RI 02817 Phone Number: (401) 397-6893



Introduction Exeter-West Greenwich Senior High School is a public school that houses grades, 9 to 12. The school was opened in 1990, with the capacity to hold between 500 to 700 students. Students at the school are on a student to teacher ratio of 1:13, which allows for a more interactive and effective learning environment for students. The location of the school is located in a quiet area off of Gooseneck Road, close to the Big River Management area. The students attending this high school come from the towns of Exeter and West Greenwich, making the wide cast of students from different towns more diverse. As educators, state legislators and parents, information about the school and its surrounding area is very important. The population, student, and income demographical comparisons of these two towns will be further discussed in the sections below. This information will help aid decisions in funding, school choices, and places to potentially live as parents decide which are the best places for their children to learn.

**Community Background **



The communities represented by the school are the towns of Exeter and West Greenwich. Exeter had a population of 6425 at the last census in 2010, West Greenwich was listed at 6125 in the same census. Due to the relatively small populations the school district combined schools and was able to effectively pool resources. Additionally the two communities engage in many activities together in addition to education. Exeter was established in 1742 and named after Exeter in Devon England. West Greenwich was established in 1741 when it divided from East Greenwich. East and West Greenwich were both named after Greenwich in Kent England. These New England communities have a long and deep history which began a new chapter as Exeter and West Greenwich merged to form Exeter-West Greenwich High School (EWGHS).

Before getting into the income demographics, the child or student numbers of Rhode Island are important. Of the 216,641 children in Rhode Island, 1334 live in the EWGHS area. The table will go into depth about the race/ethnicity of the population the specific areas targeted.

The population breakdown of this school is unfortunately not very diverse. The graph below shows that the majority of the families are from Caucasian background. The left column indicates percentage of the population. This demographic information is also compared to the nearby towns of Barrington, Central falls, Rhode Island, and the United States.




 * Race/Ethnicity || Exeter-West Greenwich || Barrington || Central Falls || Rhode Island || United States ||
 * White || 98.7% || 93% || 59.9% || 81.4% || 74% ||
 * African American || 1.2% || 0.7% || 18.7% || 6.3% || 12.6% ||
 * Asian || 0.6% || 0.7% || 0% || 3.1% || 4.9% ||
 * Hispanic || 2.6% || 2.2% || 65.7% || 12.9% || 16.6% ||
 * American Indian/Alaskan || 0.5% || 0% || 0.5% || 0.4% || 0.8% ||
 * Total Population || 6,425 || 16,298 || 19,387 || 1,052,562 || 308,538,745 ||

The next chart shows the per capita income of 35,788 for this area. The Exeter-West Greenwhic community is higher than the nearby communities and also averages higher than both Rhode Island and the United States as a whole.

The median income is listed here to further show the divide between this community and some of the surrounding areas. This will help account for the data that will be displayed below in the school and district comparisons. The poverty level of these communities is very low with the exception of Central falls. This is linked through many studies to student performance and how well students do both inside and outside the classroom. According to the reported data, the Exeter-West Greenwich community are far above the Rhode Island and US averages.

The graph below displays the numbers of children in this school receiving medical assistance and living below the Federal Poverty level.



Medical Assistance || 243 || 348 || 4,695 || 96,215 || Below Federal Poverty Level || 80 || 53 || 2,334 || 42,247 ||
 * Children || Exeter-West Greenwich || Barrington || Central Falls || Rhode Island ||
 * Child Population || 1,334 || 4,597 || 5,634 || 216,641 ||
 * Children Receiving
 * Children in Homes

District Summary To aid in state performance attainment, students are required to take New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) exams. Displayed below are the NECAP statistics from the Exeter-West Greenwich district which compare these scores with Barrington, Central Falls and the state of Rhode Island. Shown in the table are the vast differences in the data between the neighboring communities.


 * NECAP Assessment || Rhode Island || Exeter-West Greenwich || Barrington || Central Falls ||
 * 11th Grade Math || 35% || 58% || 79% || 12% ||
 * 11th Grade Reading || 81% || 87% || 98% || 53% ||
 * 11th Grade Writing || 66% || 72% || 82% || 35% ||
 * 11th Grade Science || 30% || 41% || 68% || 14% ||

Please notice within the above table that the district of Exeter-West Greenwich is performing well above the state average. Within the three districts compared, we see that Exeter-West Greenwich ranks just behind Barrington in all categories. As the table shows, Barrington is one of the most flourishing districts in Rhode Island, but, Exeter-West Greenwich is still one of the top districts in Rhode Island. If the NECAP testing is a high indicator we can confidently assume that the Exeter-West Greenwich educational system is one of the best in Rhode Island.

Attendance and graduation information is displayed below. This data provides an insight into the graduation verse drop out rates within the schools. Also listed are the absenteeism numbers.

High Schools || 92% || 95% || 95% || 88% || Absenteeism High Schools || 24% || 9% || 7% || 40% || in 2014 || 80.7% || 90% || 94% || 71% || out in 2014 || 8% || 5% || 1.1% || 12.9% || The table compares the graduation and drop out rates of the districts and the state, once again the Exeter-West Greenwich data supports this district exceeding the state averages by a substantial amount. The EWG district also comes in ten percent higher in graduation rates than the state average and only 4 percent under Barrington.
 * Attendance || Rhode Island || Exeter-West Greenwich || Barrington || Central Falls ||
 * Attendance Rate
 * Chronic
 * Percent Graduated
 * Percent Dropped

** School Analysis ** The next table will display the average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score comparisons.

(out of 800) || 522 || 588 || 425 || 484 || (out of 800) || 537 || 578 || 394 || 483 || (out of 800) || 516 || 566 || 404 || 471 ||
 * SAT Exams (2014) || Exeter-West Greenwich || Barrington || Central Falls || Rhode Island ||
 * Mathematic Average
 * Reading Average
 * Writing Average

At the time these SAT scores were recorded the district trailed Barrington but still exceeded the state average and Central Falls. The trend that stands out in each table listed in this presentation is this district does not barely exceed state standards but hammers them at ten percent or more in most cases.

The chart below displays the Advance Placement (AP) exams taken by each of the schools compared. Taken || 73 || 544 || 134 || 7237 || to take Exam || 46 || 294 || 94 || 4390 || Level Mastery || 65 || 492 || 20 || 4143 || Level Mastery || 89% || 90% || 15% || 57% ||
 * AP Exams (2014) || Exeter-West Greenwich || Barrington || Central Falls || Rhode Island ||
 * Number of Exams
 * Number of Students
 * Exam-Scored at College
 * % Scored at College

We are able to see that Exeter-West Greenwich is above the state average in students excelling at the college level. There is a major difference in student numbers in the above chart. Row one shows the number of AP exams taken is very disparate. Barrington has 544 test taken to Central Falls 134, and EWG's 73 respectively. The mastery rate of these exams is the important factor to focus on. The number taken is one thing, the number of students operating at college level is the goal of this assessment. Those numbers are 90 percent for Barrington with EWG at 1 percent behind them with Central Falls at only 15 percent.

** Conclusion ** The above data tables draw a picture of these two towns and their students. This school does trail behind Barrington by a substantial margin in some areas and a narrower gap in others. When compared to the overall state averages and other communities in the area, this district and school truly shines. As a family looking for a place to live with a good school for their children or state legislatures looking at trends to make funding or district decisions this data is very helpful. In both cases, it is evident that the amount of low income or troubled families is not an issue in this school. The basic demographic is upper middle class rural white families with decent income. With that in mind, families fitting into that description looking for a more rural type environment would do great by coming to this area. Officials looking to compare state data points and compare them to lower income, higher minorities, or more troubled families could definitely see the patterns listed in the tables. This is of course not all inclusive. The references listed below show the websites that these figures were pulled from and are available for further or more in-depth review.

References

Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved September 28, 2015, from [].

MOVOTO Real-estate. Retrieved September 28, 2015, from [].

City Data. Retrieved September 28, 2015, from [].

City Data. Retrieved September 28, 2015, from [|http://www.city-data.com/city/West-Greenwich-Rhode-Island.html#b].

Peg Votta. Retrieved September 28, 2015, from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/.