Woonsocket+High+School

**1795 ** Students
==777 Cass Avenue Woonsocket, RI, 02895 (401) 767-4700 Website / Map ==

==This is a Public School in the [|Woonsocket District] under Superintendent Giovanna Donoyan and Principal Dr. Lynn Bedard. ==

==Woonsocket, RI is the 6th largest city in Rhode Island with a population of 41,186 according to the 2010 census. It is located in the approximately 15 miles north of Providence,RI, and is directly south of the Massachusetts border. ==

==According to //Public Schools K12 // the school is 60% White, 23% Hispanic,9% Black and 8% Asian ==

==63% of the students are eligible for subsidized lunch.7%recieve ESL/Bilingual education services, and 23% are receiving special education services. ==

School Demographics and Geographical Location
By Rhode Island standards Woonsocket High School has one of the highest student populations. According to the //RI Infoworks // and //Public schools K12 // data it does not have a large immagrant population but with 63% of the students eligible for subsidized lunch, the cities school age population come from families which meet the Federal Poverty guidelines.Due to the schools population the students receiving ESL/Bilingual services is below the state average. Students receiving Special educational services are 8% above the state average.In this report a review of data from RI Infoworks, RI Dataworks will be presented and this reporter will explore the correlation of this data with the school and city demographics..

Student Achievement
While the data may not be impressive overall, The Woonsocket High School has a good foundation. Over 60 % of the students can read at or above grade level may urban schools fall far below this number. The students feel their needs are being met most of the time. NECAP scores have improved in reading and writing since the tests began.The question remains with this foundation how can this school move forward. In the book //Why School // by Mike Ross, the author states:"When children are raised in communities where economic opportunity has dramatically narrowed, where the future is bleak, their perception of an engagement with school will be negatively affected.This may be true for Woonsocket High School above all a change in school culture will go a long way in improving a student’s overall education.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Teaching
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">With most of the teachers certified and highly qualified and most of the staff keeping the students inspired and engaged according to infoworks and survey works, again not to be repetitive, but the foundation is in place the building of a great school may be in the future with the proper vision. Using survey works data, Woonsocket is a community which cares about their children, and as most parents, want their children to succeed While only a small number of parents took the SurveyWorks survey, the respondents were positive, but more importantly the majority of students took the survey an reported a caring family life. a caring family life can overcome economic conditions and lay the way for a better life for their children.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Family, Community, and Home Life
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">A major problem in urban schools is attendance, while the rate is 10 points below the state average; the report does not report lateness. It is typical in urban settings for a student to miss one or two classes a day due to lateness. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Chronic absenteeism is a huge problem at Woonsocket High school. students with 30, 40 , or even 60 days out a year will account for the low graduation rate, A teacher can be very supportive, but if a student does not come to class it becomes a game of catch up where even if the student completes makeup work, little learning takes place.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Safe and Supportive Schools
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Students do feel safe this reporter suspects that the majority of bullying reported is electronic, which is a national problem.There are no easy answers to these problems, most schools are turning to electronic or virtual learning to bring these students up to speed, but the jury is out on this approach

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Funding and Resources
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">The financial condition of the City of Woonsocket due to a slow economy and cuts in state aid ,and overspending by the school committee, have created some challenges which the city is dealing with. The current condition could put a strain on the school system during the next fiscal year. =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Changes over the past decade = <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">The once great city of Woonsocket once a major manufacturing hub in the United States, is broken, unemployment is up, personal income is down, it was reported in the June 13th edition of the Providence Journal, it was reported that the only large retail activity in the city is when food stamps and government assistance payments are available. The past decade has not been kind to the city.With this distraction in place the High School received the highest level of accreditation from The New England Associations of Schools and Colleges. This accreditation is a testament to strong foundation that is evident by the findings of this report. The High School has also moved is state ranking from warning to typical. Improvements have been made and there is a result that may continue and could possible act as one of the engines to move the City forward. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Please note:All data was taken from[|http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov] unless noted.