West+Greenwich+District

__**EXETER-WEST GREENWICH**__

The city of West Greenwich and its schools are combined with the schools in Exeter so that the size is substantial enough, since both cities alone only consist of about 1400 students each when Providence has over 40,000 kids in its school district. The Exeter-West Greenwich school district is comprised of about 2,800 kids spread between five public schools. They include Mildred E. Lineham School, a preschool,Wawaloam School, including grades K-2, Metcald School for grades 3-6, Exeter-West Greenwich Regional Junior High for grades 7 and 8, Exeter-West Greenwich Regional High School for grades 9 to 12. Also, within the borders of this school district is the Greene School, an independent charter for ninth through eleventh graders.
 * Introduction**

Exeter-West Greenwich, though with average teaching conditions and less diversity in comparison to the state, has superior student achievement. All of the teachers here are properly certified with no emergency certifications, not extremely distant from the state's level of only 1% emergency certified professionals. Also, the student-to-teacher ratio is one less than the state average, with one teacher to every eleven students. However, this district does have 99% of its teachers highly qualified while the state only has 97%.While the teaching is average against statewide statistics, the racial and ethnic background composition is extremely different. 64% of the statewide school students are white, while in West Greenwich 90% of students are white. In the state 36% of students are diverse races with the most prevalent being 22% Hispanic. In Exeter-West Greenwich, only 10% are diverse races and only 4% are Hispanic. This may be a reason for the very superior test scores since minorities are proven to test lower. The percentage of students that met proficiency in the reading and science sections of the NECAP test were 10% higher than the statewide average, writing was 18% higher, and math one of the areas of emphasis under recent government administrations, was on average nearly 20% higher than state averages. While this above average achievement may be skewed by the lower number of students in the town compared to other districts (about 1/12 the size of the Providence School district), the success of the students in nationwide standardized testing is undeniable. According to GoLocalProv, an informational website that analyzed the achievements in the students through NECAPs as well as SATs, graduation rates, and SAT scores, as a result of low diversity; and despite average teaching, the Exeter-West Greenwich High School ranked third in the whole state, reflecting the stable, successful school district
 * Students and Teachers**

Exeter-West Greenwich is a fairly affluent district compared to other ones throughout the state, greatly benefiting its school system and contributing to the success of its students. For example, the median family income is $72,745, over two and a half times the income of the average family in Central Falls. However, it is still over $17,000 less than that of neighboring East Greenwich district. Furthermore, the property value per student in Central Falls is one quarter that of Exeter-West Greenwich, and under one fifth that of East Greenwich. Despite these incomes and property values, East Greenwich and Central Falls spend very similar amounts on students, around $14,200 (ironically East Greenwich, which is more affluent spends 300 less dollars per student as Central Falls does), whereas Exeter-West Greenwich spends significantly more, around $16,800 per pupil, perhaps because of the smaller number of pupils. As a result of the data given about the property value per student and income, as well as the the per pupil expenditure, it can be concluded that Exeter-West Greenwich is on the upper end of the spectrum in regards to funding.
 * Funding**

 The Exeter-West Greenwich school district, comprised of 2,800 kids spread between five public schools, proves superior to those of the state. Given slightly higher than average teaching and little diversity, the students consistently score higher than most of the state in nearly every area and grade level tested by the NECAP test. Further contributing to the districts success is the higher funding allocated for education. As a result of both the teaching and student achievement as well as funding, one could conclude given the data that Exeter-West Greenwich would be a dream district for any parent wishing to raise academically successful children
 * Conclusion**

EWG School DIstrict. “Exeter•West Greenwich Regional School District”, n.d. http://ewg.k12.ri.us/default.aspx. Rhode Island Department of Education. “InfoWorks! Rhode Island Education Data Reporting - RIDE.ri.gov Exeter-West Greenwich.” //Infoworks//. 2011. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.