Hampden+Meadows

=**Hampden Meadows School﻿**=

Barrington, Rhode Island


= = =Introduction= Hampden Meadows School is a fourth and fifth grade school in the Barrington School District. There are nine fourth grade classrooms, ten fifth grade classrooms, and four looping classrooms for the fourth and fifth grade. Children from the three elementary schools in Barrington- Nyatt, Sowams, and Primrose Hill, come together by fourth grade to build friendships as they move forward together into the middle school and high school. Hampden Meadows School is well known for its high achievement rates, high parent involvement, excellent teachers, and small class size.[1] Information gathered from the 2008-2009 SALT survey and Infoworks! is summarized into this report. This would be a perfect source of information for a family looking into moving to the Barrington School District.

=Brief Description= Hampden Meadows School is in a predominantly white school district, with 91% of its students being of non-Hispanic, white race. The students mostly come from a nuclear family, with 88% of students stating they live with both parents. The school is viewed in a positive school climate by students, as they report that teachers provide support, the rules and expectations are clear, students are committed, and their interactions with one another are positive.[2] When parents were questioned about how well their child is doing in school, 86% of parents responded that their child is an outstanding or good student. When asked about their child's attitude towards school, 65% claimed their child likes school a lot.[3]

= = =Accountability= [4]

**Summary:**
Hampden Meadows School met the standard in 2008 for both state Mathematics and ELA targets. The state's target for Mathematics was an index score of 74.5 and the average for all students was 95.4. The state's target for ELA was an index score of 84.5. The score for all students in ELA was 96.2. The charts above show comparisons between score averages of all students, white students, and students with disabilities. Like stated above, some data is missing because less than 45 students are part of that specific group. The performance is a good representation of consistency with each other and show that most children are on the same level, achieving close to or beyond the standards of the state target.

=Achievement=

[5]

**Summary:**
Hampden Meadows Schools is in a mostly a white, affluent community. Therefore, there is a lot of missing data from the above chart. However, from the chart it can be concluded that a high percentage of the total number of students at Hampden Meadows Schools reach proficiency in both math and reading. Once again, there is missing data, meaning less than 10 students were tested in the group. Even though there is missing data, this is a good indicator of proficiency in the elementary schools.

=**Connectedness**=

**Connectedness Among Teachers, Professionals, and Administrators**
[6]

**Summary:**
This graph is a representation of self-reports completed by teachers and staff regarding the connectedness among their colleagues and administrators. In Hampden Meadows School, teachers strongly agree that within their grade level, they work well together as a unit, help decide how school policies should change, and also respect each other's ideas and opinions. This data stays close to the data reported by Rhode Island elementary schools, meaning that Hampden Meadows has a relatively good handle on connectedness. When teachers were asked if classroom curricula and topics are integrated across subject areas, data nearly matched the data reported by all Rhode Island elementary schools- that between 40-50% of teachers report at least several times a month the curricula and topics are integrated. The only place where connectedness wavered concerning its closeness to the mean data of Rhode Island elementary schools, is when teachers were asked questions regarding involvement in school-improvement and the overall group spirit among staff. Hampden Meadows School teachers reported that staff are involved in school-improvement planning and decisions about 65% of the time, while teachers in Rhode Island elementary schools report the percentage a bit higher around 70-75% of the time. This could greatly affect how connected teachers feel to other staff and higher administration if they do not have a say in school-improvement. The most startling difference between other elementary schools in the state of Rhode Island and Hampden Meadows School in Barrington is the lack of group spirit among the staff. Although the state data recorded only around 65% group spirit among staff, it is much higher than Hampden Meadow teachers' report of only 45%. This is an important piece of information that needs to be addressed at Hampden Meadows School in order to improve the school's connectedness.

**Summary:**
When observing the reports on connectedness between students and teachers, Hampden Meadows School is exemplary. Almost 80% of students report that teachers take a personal interest in students most of the time or always. This is a very close measure to the 80% from Rhode Island elementary schools that report the same. Hampden Meadows School surpasses the rest of Rhode Island Elementary Schools with 100% of teachers reporting the following positive news: members of their team or grade level interact with children in ways that show interest and respect, and they also use positive approaches to help children behave constructively. Although it is not a great difference compared to the 95% reported by all other Rhode Island Elementary Schools, it shows that these teachers at Hampden Meadows School are connected to their students in these ways **all** the time.

**Summary:**
To find the connectedness throughout the school community as a whole, parents, students and teachers were all asked questions regarding their interactions. By viewing the responses from the parents, it can be concluded that although parents feel that Hampden Meadows School does not view parents as important partners, the school goes above and beyond other Rhode Island Elementary schools by including parents on school committees, as about 70% reported. Eighty percent of students from Hampden Meadows schools say they have a sense of belonging in this school, which only slightly differs from the data collected from different Rhode Island elementary schools. Another key factor that shows Hampden Meadows has more connectedness than the rest of the schools in Rhode Island is shown in yet another report by students. Less than 20% of students reported that students in this school have trouble getting along with each other. This is a very good percentage in comparison to the average of 40% reported by other Rhode Island elementary schools. The final aspect of connectedness through the entire community comes from the reports from teachers. They reported that less than 10% of their students disrupt what other students are doing. When comparing the 10% to the average 30% reported by all Rhode Island elementary schools, it can be concluded that students are more connected here than in other schools. This conclusion is reinforced by the teachers' report that 100% of students in their classes enjoy working together, while only between 85-90% of teachers from all Rhode Island Elementary schools report the same message. = = =**Engaging** Families and Communities=

Community Support
[7]

**Summary:**
When looking at community support, parent participation is at the same level as Rhode Island Elementary Schools for the year 2007-2008 for the percentage of parents who responded to the SALT survey (~55-60%). Close to 100% of the parents agree that the community supports Hampden Meadows school. Teachers are almost 100% satisfied to the extent to which parents and the community are supportive of the school and its program, in comparison to other Rhode Island elementary school teachers who are around 55% satisfied. Finally, less than 10% of students report they are home alone three or more hours a day, for three or more days a week. This is a good indicator that families are either available for their children, or they are aware of the need for after school care.

**Summary:**
Although less than 60% of teachers believe parents should be involved in school governance because it is essential to effective education, parents report a high amount of communication with the school. The school does very well contacting the parents if the child is having a problem, but only contacts parents if their child is doing something well or improves, around 40% of the time. Regardless, Hampden Meadows has a high percentage of reports by parents claiming the school responds to questions and requests within a reasonable time, and also has parent-teacher conferences. Both reports yield a high percentage of over 80%, where all the other elementary schools in Rhode Island do not reach 80%. Hampden Meadows does about the same, if not a little better at asking parents to volunteer at the school, which yields a little bit over 60% response rate.

**Summary:**
Once again, Hampden Meadows does a fine job either staying close with the Rhode Island elementary schools' ratings or surpassing them, when reporting about teacher practices and attitudes. Almost 40% of teachers report that they meet with individual parents on at least a weekly basis, and around 60% of teachers report that at least monthly they use parents as volunteers or other school resources. Teachers at Hampden Meadows School mostly agree strongly that teachers on their grade level keep positive relationships with the parents of students, while 100% of teachers believe that two-way communication between home and school is essential in order to provide effective education.

Conclusion:
All data collected supports the conclusion that Hampden Meadows School is a exemplary school. Not only is it supported by its great staff, as shown in the connectedness and achievement reports, it is also shown in the connectedness reports that parents and the community are another strength of support as well. Students are high-achieving, consistently meeting or exceeding state standards as well as being recorded as highly proficient. With all this being said, Hampden Meadows is an excellent school!

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 * 1) ^ # “Parent Reviews of Hampden Meadows School - Barrington, Rhode Island - RI,” [].
 * 2) ^ # “Hampden Meadows School-Student Reports,” []
 * 1) ^ # “Hampden Meadows School-Parents Report,” []
 * 1) ^ # “Accountability- Hampden Meadows.”
 * 1) ^ # “Achievement- Hampden Meadows.”
 * 2) ^ # “Connectedness-Hampden Meadows.”
 * 3) ^ # “Family and Community- Hampden Meadows.”