Cranston+High+School+East

=**Cranston High School East** = = **Cranston (02910)** = = **Makayla Proffit** =

"The mission of CHSE, a partnership consisting of students, teachers, parents, and community members, is to educate all students in a safe, challenging, and mutually respectful environment, which will enable them to develop and demonstrate proficiency in critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. The CHSE student and subsequent graduate will utilize these skills to become a respectful and productive contributor to both the school and community."

**Introduction**
 Cranston High School East (a.k.a. East) is a place where people of all different cultures, ethnicities, and financial standing come together to learn and grow. People graduate from East not only with a great deal of academic knowledge, but also knowledge about other people and cultures that they would have never known otherwise. For future teachers and parents, even current teachers and parents, this report analyzes and compares aspects about the school, district and surrounding community, including attendance rates, NCLB indicators, and SALT survey reports, so you can have an idea about what the school system is like, and maybe even become a part of the community that exists within Cranston High School East.    

Student Indicators
Cranston East is relatively average in terms of its student indicators. The attendance rate is slightly below that of the state (90% as compared to 93%), and the rate of suspensions is slightly below which is a good thing (48.8% for the school and 53% for the state). The rate of students that graduate in 4 years is roughly 10% higher than that of the state, at 83.4% and the state as a whole is at 73.9%. What really sticks out is the number of students with disabilities, with only 17% at Cranston High School East and 57% in the state as a whole. This is probably due in part to Cranston East not having a very good special education program, which is evident through the SALT survey which is discussed later in the report.

Teacher Indicators
As far as teacher quality goes at East, the teachers seem to be average and below average compared to those of the state. They let students revise their reports and papers about just as much as teachers in the state do (31% in the state and 30% at CHSE). Also, students provide feedback to one another almost as much as students in the state (22% of the time at East and 26% of the time in the state as a whole). Students are taught problem solving and decision making just as much as other students in the state as well (58% at Cranston East and 60% in Rhode Island). However, there is a drastic difference between students at East receiving instruction in writing skills than in the state, with only 37% at East and 52% in the state. Also, only 25% of the time at East do instructional materials relate to students’ interest when they do 39% of the time in the state. There is one thing that teachers seem to be much better at in East than they are in the state, and that is examining student’s work to guide instruction. This happens 61% of the time at East and only 43% of the time in the state. ===**<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">School and District Indicators ** === <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">In the state of Rhode Island, there are 308 school and 36 locally operated public school districts. 81 schools and 12 districts did not make adequate yearly progress, which is 26% of schools and 33% of districts. This is unacceptable because these make up almost a third of all public schools and districts in Rhode Island. 44 schools were identified for improvement, and 31 schools face No Child Left Behind (NCLB) sanctions. Finally, 10 districts are in “intervention status”.

<span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Indicators
<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">Cranston High School East has some serious work to do when it comes to NCLB standards. In English Language Arts, the target score was 75.0. Students as a whole met this target with a score of 81.7, and when broken down the Hispanic, White and Economically Disadvantaged students all met the target with scores of 80.1, 81.7, and 77.0, respectively. However, students with disabilities did not meet this target with an average score of 67.0. In the mathematics sections, the results were a little more varied, but not in a good way. The target score was 63.2, and students as a whole met this target with an average score of 61.4 as well as white students with an average score of 62.7. However, Hispanic students, Students with Disabilities, and Economically Disadvantaged Students did not meet this target, with scores of 53.1, 49.3, and 55.9, respectively. This is unacceptable, especially with students with disabilities. Their scores are way below average and should at least come somewhat close to meeting the standard. Cranston East needs to institute new teaching methods and approaches when it comes to the students with disabilities, because their test scores should meet the target score despite having disabilities. They should not have to be disadvantaged even more than they already are because they are not meeting standards and are doing below-average work. With the right teachers and teaching methods, the fact that they have disabilities shouldn’t disadvantage them at all. Since East has only met 16 out of the 21 targets, it has been classified as making insufficient progress. Also, the student groups of African-American, Asian, Native American, and English-Language Learners are not present on this study because too few students fall into these categories to be evaluated. This is also unacceptable, because the school should have a diverse enough student population for every student group to be evaluated.

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====<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">Cranston High School East is home to 1570 students, and has an attendance rate of 90.3% (this means that on a daily basis, out of 1570 students roughly 1418 show up). After the visiting team was there for a week, they came up with a few conclusions about the school. For example, some students achieve their optimal potential in learning, but most are complacent, passive learners who are not learning to their full potential and only do the minimum work required. Also, most of the students write frequently and do an average job on their writing, but are not effective writers when it comes to projects involving more complex writing skills. This goes along with the reading level; students read a great variety of things, but only read to get a basic understanding of the work and do not read critically or analyze things. ====

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====**<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Special Education Difficulties **<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">Also, the special education program needs work. There are insufficient personnel and the school relies too much on self-contained classes; students who need special education should have more of a chance to be involved in general education schooling, even if a teacher aid stays with them throughout the day. This way they get a chance to know what it is like to be in a general education setting and adapt to it. And, the IEP’s (Individual Education Plans) need a lot of work. The school does not consistently conform to federal and state regulations or subscribe to best practices. This results in students not being placed in the least restrictive environment and negatively impacts their social, emotional, and intellectual growth. ====

**<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Ability Of School To Support Learning **
<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">Finally, time is not being used properly and is being wasted. The schedule does not give enough time for learning and time is lost due to teacher and student travel between the two buildings and frequent interruptions during class time (phone and announcements over the intercom). Being a 2009 graduate from Cranston East, I can attest to this, especially with the announcements over the intercom. In many cases, teachers became so frustrated with the constant interruptions that they began taking their phones off the hooks and disabling the intercom. This is not a good thing, because if there was a real emergency the teachers could not be reached. <span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">

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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">All in all, Cranston High School East is doing well. There are a few areas which need improvement, especially meeting standards with regards to NCLB. This is in addition to the improvements that need to be made with regards to the suggestions presented in the SALT visit report. More than anything, the Special Education and IEP programs need work. But besides that, on an individual level, students need to be engaged in learning more. At Cranston East, many students seem to be playing what Fried (2003) calls "The Game of School", and aren't really learning anything. They are just memorizing information and regurgitating it back when the tests come around. Also, most students are not working to their full potential. They are only doing the bare minimum, even the honors students are only doing the minimum to get an A, they are not going above and beyond the standards which they should be and are capable of doing. Students need to show that Thunderbolt Pride in their schoolwork and not just their sports teams and community. Though, Cranston East is making improvements and changes that need to be made, and seems to be making a great amount of progress. Hopefully, these findings will show readers what is going on at Cranston East, and maybe it will give students and teachers the motivation to change things for the better and keep doing the things that make East a great school. And with that Thunderbolt Pride that is instilled in parents, faculty and students, anything is possible. <span style="color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">