NK Schools Rank 12th on RI-CAN List

The Rhode Island Campaign for Achievement Now (RI-CAN) released its 2012 School Report Cards for 300 Rhode Island public schools.

Check out the results for the North Kingstown school district. Overall, tied for fourth place in average student performance at the elementary school level with 92 percent. (Hope Valley Elementary School and The Compass School took the top honors.)

At the middle school level, tied for sixth in overall performance with a score of 88 percent.

tied for ninth with South Kingstown and Lincoln at 70 percent. Barrington High School and East Greenwich High School finished first and second respectively in that category. NKHS was one of the state's biggest improvers at the high school level, jumping up three percent from last year.

The biggest improver in the district was , with a performance boost of seven percent. Overall, however, North Kingstown elementary schools decreased in ranking by six percent.

“The report cards are designed to help Rhode Island parents serve as effective advocates for their kids," said Maryellen Butke, RI-CAN executive director. "Parents deserve to know how well their child’s public school is meeting the needs of all of its students.”

RI-CAN used students’ academic performance in four key categories: average student performance, subgroup performance, achievement gaps and performance gains. The grades, which range from A to F, are calculated based on the October 2011 New England Common Assessment Program scores, released in January 2012 by the Rhode Island Department of Education.

Click here to read their methodology.

Using the data from the School Report Cards, RI-CAN also released the Top 10 Rhode Island public schools that have higher levels of achievement in critical areas. RI-CAN used these rankings to generate Top 10 lists for each category in the report cards: Performance Gains, Low-Income Performance, African-American Performance, Hispanic Performance, Improvement, Limited English Proficiency Performance and Title I School Performance.

“Our state's achievement gaps are still unacceptably high and overall performance statewide is stagnant,” said Butke. "We must be transparent about how Rhode Island schools are performing - it's a critical step towards improving our schools."