RI's #10 School 2012: Classical High School

RI's #10 School 2012: Classical High School

For the second year running, a legendary Providence high school holds steady at the #10 spot, keeping hope alive for the future of urban education in Rhode Island.

After a drop in last year's ranking from #6 to #10, the iconic example of what public education in a city can and should be, stabilizes and continues to produce outstanding results despite large class sizes.

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Fundamentally, Classical has maintained its hallmarks of excellence, as this year's numbers indicate. It rules the state with a phenomenal 98% of students scoring above proficiency in Reading NECAPs (and has maintained that state-high score two years in a row). Its 81% above proficient in Writing is not only a 7 point increase since last year, but is the second-highest in the state (Middletown High had the highest this year, with 82%). However, its 48% above proficient in Math reflects a drop from previous years.

The drawback: large classes

When it comes to graduation rates, Classical boasts a laudatory 95.9%, the second-highest in the state (the small Walsh School for the Arts in Pawtucket has a 100% graduation rate). What hurts Classical is indeed its large class sizes, which have decreased this year to 14 students per teacher (down from 15), but nonetheless remain among the highest ratios in the state (bested by Times 2 Academy, Textron Academy, and Woonsocket High, all with 15-1 ratios).

Striving, not yielding

With the rest of Providence's public high schools pooling at the bottom of the ranking, eyes remain on Classical. Founded in 1843 with the motto, Certare, Petere, Reperire, Neque Cedere, a translation of the famous phrase taken from Tennyson's Ulysses, "To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and Not to Yield," Classical's challenges remain clearly defined.

Classical High School at a Glance

Enrollment: 1,047

Mascot: The Purple

Famous Alums:

• John Orlando Pastore — Former Governor of Rhode Island, United States Senator
• S. J. Perelman — American Humorist
• Bruce Sundlun — Former Governor of Rhode Island
• Rudolph Fisher — pioneering Black radiologist and writer of the Harlem Renaissance
• Irving R. Levine — Former NBC News Economics Correspondent
• Frank Licht — Former Governor of Rhode Island
• George Macready — American actor
• A.O. Scott — Chief New York Times Movie Critic
• Stanley Fish — Literary theorist and legal scholar
• Michael Kang — Filmmaker
• C. M. Eddy, Jr. — Renowned Author
• Lauren Corrao - President of original programming and development for Comedy Central. Former Fox executive, helped develop That '70s Show and Mad TV
• William A. Barnett — Economist
• Robin Green - Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning television producer for The Sopranos and Northern Exposure, among others
• S. Hastings Richardson- Author
• Alexander Knight- Poet
• Angel Taveras - First Latino Mayor of Providence

 

For a printable version of RI's Top High Schools 2012, with the full chart of rankings and summaries of key articles, Download PDF