RI's #4 School 2012: South Kingstown High School

RI's #4 School 2012: South Kingstown High School

With a strong surge in Math NECAP scores coupled with bumps up on all 3 SAT averages, South Kingstown High School repeats its Top 5 performance and holds on to its #4 ranking for 2012.

The South County high school continues to hold its own above high-testing Barrington HS because of investment. Despite an enrollment of 1,058 (the second-highest) in the Top 5 schools, South Kingstown boasts a remarkable student-teacher ratio of 9:1. This compares to Barrington High's 12:1 ratio (BHS also has a large enrollment, at 1,150). In partnership with that excellent ratio, South Kingstown spends $16,082 per student. The one-two punch of low student-teacher ratio and high per-student spending gave South Kingstown the nod over Barrington's admitted dominance in the world of standardized testing.

The university influence

Being so close to the University of Rhode Island has its advantages, with many faculty families informing the culture at SKHS. Take, for example, the fact that the language department here supports 3 Romance languages—Italian, as well as French and Spanish—not your typical public school menu of offerings, particularly in an overall climate of school cutbacks.

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Keeping it real

At the same time, South Kingstown keeps a practical eye on life after high school, with a broad mix of classes as part of its Applied Learning Department. With three subsets: Business, Technology Education, and Family and Consumer Science, students can explore areas as diverse as Personal Finance, Web Page Design, Sports Marketing, Robotics, Carpentry, Culinary Arts and Child Development.

And in a nice combination of curriculum and athletics, the Sports Marketing class films and edits highlight videos of the school's sports teams. That's a nice addition to school spirit.

South Kingstown High School at a Glance

Enrollment: 1,085

Mascot: The Rebels

Famous Alums:

• Jhumpa Lahiri, Author

 

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