Mt. Hope High School Defies Socioeconomic Stereotypes with NECAP Scores

Gov. Lincoln Chafee and Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist visited Woonsocket last week to unveil the results of the 2010 New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP). According to Chafee and Gist, students across Rhode Island made some gains in mathematics and reading, but just one-third of high school students are proficient in math, and the achievement gap between the state average and minority students remains “unacceptably high.”

But according to Patrick Jackson, teacher and head of the English, foreign language and history departments at , the school did not follow any of the generalized stereotypical trends. In fact, Jackson said that the writing scores for Mt. Hope were exemplary.

"It's miraculous really," he said.

But Jackson does not only take pride in the scores because the students did so well. He said he's also ecstatic because the school received the second highest writing score of all the districts, regardless of socioeconomic status. According to the SES, a number that references the percentage of students that receive free or reduced lunch, Mt. Hope High School is the seventh poorest in the 31 Rhode Island districts. 

"Our SES is 32 percent, yet our writing score is equal to schools like Barrington that have less than one percent," he said. "Usually there is a correlation between low scores and high SES, but we're outperforming schools that have low SESs. We don't use the SES as an excuse, it just shows that we can overcome obstacles."

Narragansett, another school with less than one percent SES, scored 10 points lower in the writing section than Mt. Hope. Jackson also noted that schools with an SES similar to Mt. Hope's, such as Johnston (34 percent), Chariho (33 percent) and Warwick Vets (34 percent), scored anywhere from 12 to 35 points lower than Mt. Hope in the writing section. 

"I think it just shows the comprehensive writing program we have that really prepares the students to write for all genres," Jackson said. "It's really a school-wide effort. All departments take part in getting the students ready for NECAP testing. And [the score] is a credit to the effort the kids put in. The district should take some pride."

According to Jackson, the school's reading scores have plateaued and have not changed much over the years.

Jodi-Lee Neves, teacher of 10th and 11th grade English, claims that every year teachers learn more about the needs of their students and are constantly trying to improve.

"I thought the scores were excellent," Neves said. "Every year we get a little better at it, but there is always something else that can be done."

Greg Shea, teacher and head of the science, math and technology departments at Mt. Hope, was also impressed with the mathematics scores. 

"The students exceeded average state performance," he said. "Math is a subject that skill is built up layer by layer. It took a  lot of hard work by students and faculty. But the fact that we continue to see these improvements gives us a good indicator that the changes we are making are having a good effect."

Full NECAP test results can be seen here.